Accessibility statement for www.transport.gov.scot

This accessibility statement applies to the Transport Scotland website, www.transport.gov.scot.

This website is run by Transport Scotland. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • some parts of the website do not meet minimum colour contrast ratio requirements
  • some images do not contain descriptive alt text
  • some navigation link text is missing
  • some elements of the website do not have accurate focus order making them unavailable to those relying on a screen reader
  • some content overlaps when text spacing is increased
  • some heading levels are skipped
  • the website contains PDFs and Excel documents some of which are not fully accessible to screen reader users

Feedback and contact information

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

Transport Scotland Digital Team
digitalcomms@transport.gov.scot

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Find out how to contact us.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Transport Scotland is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

The areas listed below are non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some parts of the website do not meet minimum colour contrast ratio requirements. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA). We plan to ensure that all information and text displayed on the website adheres to the minimum colour contrast requirements and is accessible.

Some images within the website do not contain alternative text where it is required. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A). We plan to ensure that all images and content that require alternative text is available and accessible to all users.

Some navigation link text is missing. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A). We aim to ensure all navigation links have text so that their purpose is clear to all users including screen reader users.

Some elements of the website do not have accurate focus order making them unavailable to those relying on a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A). We aim to ensure that all content has accurate focus order for all users, regardless of the device they are using, including those navigating the site using a keyboard and those navigating the site using a screen reader.

When text spacing is increased, some text is no longer visible. For example, some content overlaps with other content which means it is unable to be read. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12 Text Spacing (Level AA).

Some heading levels are skipped, particularly headings at level 2 on a number of page templates. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A).

Content not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The website contains older PDFs and Excel documents published before some of which are not fully accessible to keyboard or screen reader users. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. All documents we now publish either conform to the regulations, or are published alongside equivalent accessible html content.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

  • Accessibility audit last conducted in May 2021 – a large number of accessibility issues were identified and fixed at that time.
  • We have transformed our internal publishing processes to cover accessibility checks, and now aim to ensure all content published includes a html version.
  • We aim to audit the website again in 2024 and address more of the outstanding accessibility issues at that point.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 May 2021. It was last reviewed on 17 January 2024.

This website was last tested on 17 May 2021 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

The test was carried out by Storm ID on the following areas of the site:

  • our main website platform, available at www.transport.gov.scot
  • we tested each page template type on this website, this included the media library, navigation elements including checkboxes, search bar and radio buttons, images, PDF and video content (64 webpages were audited, covering the 36 page templates in use)
  • An automated evaluation of the Transport Scotland pages within the site was completed using the WAVE accessibility checker tool in Firefox and Chrome.
  • A manual accessibility evaluation was performed to code level using browser code inspectors
  • A colour contrast analyser determined if contrast levels were sufficient.
  • A review of the specified site pages using assistive technology was completed with the following tools and browsers:
    • JAWS in Chrome
    • NVDA in Firefox v88
    • VoiceOver in Safari on iOS 14
    • Talkback in Chrome on Android V10

The website is due for a full accessibility check by the end of 2024. This will be carried out in the same way as the last audit. We will look to address the issues covered above at that time.