Geoff Adams-Spink BBC News Online disability affairs reporter

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is a relatively new piece of legislation despite nearly 10 years on the statute books.

Keith Roads hoped to blaze a trail for disabled people

But without a body of case law, campaigners and service providers are unclear as to how powerful this law really is.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) - the body which oversees the rights of disabled people in the UK - felt Keith Roads' case was an important test of how a service provider should be made to improve access.

It tested for the first time in the Court of Appeal the section of the Act dealing with access to goods and services. And the court sided with Mr Roads - although it remains to be seen how important the decision is in building that case law.

Mr Roads, a disability rights campaigner who brought the original case, wants to use Thetford station in Norfolk more often.

Both platforms are accessible - but getting from one to another involves a journey of about half a mile if a passenger is unable to use the footbridge.

Mr Roads said Central Trains should provide transport so that when he visited Thetford from Norwich he was able to make the return journey.

But Thetford doesn't have a taxi capable of taking Mr Roads and his wheelchair.

This is a wakeup call to all train operating companies - it has been important for the DRC to support Keith's efforts as his case falls squarely within the DDA Agnes Fletcher, DRC

He and his supporters said the company could call an accessible taxi from Norwich which could pick him up from one side of the station and then take him to the other platform. The cost of providing this service was around �50.

But the alternative proposed by Central Trains was that Mr Roads should continue in the same direction as far as Ely, where he could easily change platforms and travel back to Norwich.

This would add at least an hour to his journey - and Mr Roads said that constituted discrimination because he was only being expected to do it because he was a wheelchair user.

'Law on our side'

The DDA refers to service providers having to make 'reasonable adjustments' in order to improve access for disabled people.

But at the original hearing, the judge effectively decided that it was more reasonable to add an hour to a disabled person's journey than to require the train operator to provide a taxi.

"We were devastated when we lost because we thought we had the law on our side," Mr Roads told BBC News Online.

"I have several friends in Thetford, and one of the reasons I don't go very often is that it's a stressful journey to make - and an expensive one."

The DRC felt that this was such an important case it should be tested on appeal.

Accessible taxi

In its decision, the Court of Appeal decided the original county court judge had been wrong and that it was indeed unreasonable to expect someone to add an hour to their journey travelling in the wrong direction and back again when a taxi could have been provided.

However, the decision is limited to this case and cannot be said to be a catch-all for all cases of alleged disability discrimination on the railways.

However, the DRC says it is a useful and important decision in building its case law.

"The DRC is very pleased that justice has been done in Keith Roads' long-running battle with Central Trains," said Agnes Fletcher of the DRC.

"This is a wakeup call to all train operating companies. It has been important for the DRC to support Keith's efforts as his case falls squarely within the DDA.

"We hope that this judgement will mean that the hundred or so other stations where this sort of access issue causes problems for disabled people will now seek to mend their ways.

"Keith's experiences typify the appalling level of service that disabled people endure every day when trying to use transport.

"According to interim research by Tripscope some 60% of stations in Britain are simply not accessible to disabled people."

While Mr Roads celebrates his victory, disability campaigners are awaiting announcements from the government on plans to widely increase the availability of accessible taxis.