A disabled sexual abuse survivor claims she was "locked out" of Lime Street station just before midnight as she waited for a taxi to replace a cancelled rail service.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says she had been promised she could wait inside the station - but was later left outside and alone.
She arrived at the station at 11.30pm after a previous train had been cancelled.
Because of this delay, she missed her second connecting train back home.
It is claimed that as, as per company guidelines, the station manager on duty at the time ordered the woman a complimentary private hire taxi for the rest of her journey.
As she waited the woman, who is a rape survivor, wanted to stay in the station until the taxi arrived.
The woman, who also has ME, said: “I told the station duty manager that being a lone female waiting for a cab in a city centre side street late at night, I would feel frightened and totally unsafe.
“He told me that I was welcome to wait inside the station.”
However, after a long wait, she went to check if her taxi had arrived – only, she claims. for security staff to tell her that she had to leave the station and wait outside.
She said security staff then informed her that she had to wait on one of the dark side streets for her taxi to arrive.
The woman said: “I had been waiting for an hour from 11.30pm to 12.30am, which was detrimental to my ME malaise as I was already stressed - but that wasn’t the worst of it."
The woman, who said she had to wait a further 20 minutes for the taxi, added: “My experience was made even worse by the fact that I am a survivor of domestic abuse and rape.
"I told them why it made me feel very vulnerable, and asked if a member of station staff could wait with me to make me feel safe as a compromise. They said no and walked away.
“The security staff had no reason to lock me out. The station was still staffed so they didn’t need to lock the gates for station security. The stress of their actions made and continues to make my ME malaise worse.
“I was desperate to wait inside because there were staff there with a duty of care. Not only am I disabled, but I have a life-limiting, debilitating disease.
"I am a survivor of domestic abuse and rape, which intensified my fear that I might be mugged or physically assaulted if made to wait for my taxi late at night in a secluded side street.
“I subsequently had to commute to London via Lime Street shortly after, and being back there triggered traumatic, frightening flashbacks.
"It was a really traumatic experience, and it’s made me frightened in case I need to use the station again in the future.”
Liverpool Lime Street boasts a CCTV system with cameras covering station entrances and platforms and includes assistance points and easy-to-access telephones and alarms within the station itself.
The Echo have approached Network Rail for comment.
