He he. Birmingham New Street *is* broken. It must be one of the worst stations in England (I had to commute from there for two-and-a-half years). As first impressions go it's also a pretty terrible introduction to Britain's best city for those coming by train (and in the UK that's a whole extra customer experience rant in itself).

Posted by: El Nicko de Disco at December 5, 2003 05:51 AM

It means the door is opened with a motor-after you push the button. If you're in a wheelchair its harder to open a door, so instead you just push a button and it opens.

Posted by: Bob at July 13, 2004 05:13 PM

I've been working in the automatic door

industry for 15 years, I have heard this

comment 1,000's of times.

Question why don't people read signs?

'Press button to open door'

What's complicated with that?

These doors are intended for disabled users.

Of which there will be many more installed

in the UK to conform to the DDA during 2004

.....remember people it does exactly

what it says on the label....

Posted by: Fred at September 3, 2004 04:02 AM

A mall close to us is weird. You HAVE To press the button to open the door. And if you dont, you cant open it by hand because the door is locked up tight. However when walking OUT of the building, the door opens by itself. This is in a mall in Arizona.

Posted by: Bryant at December 20, 2004 05:41 PM

Fred: because the first thing people see is the "Automatic Door" sign, because it's right at eye level. This sign normally means that the door will open by itself by the action of a sensor. Once someone has read a piece of definitive information such as that, they're not going to continue looking for more information, such as the lower, smaller sign saying "Push button...".

The sign in the middle of the door should read "Press button on left to open", and have a pictograph depicting the same.

Posted by: zeem at January 7, 2005 07:40 PM