Stephen is a disabled person and for 25 years has been a researcher, lecturer, speaker and chair specialising in disability, equality, and diversity. He gained a 1st Class Honours Degree at Coventry in 2002.

He has extensive experience in the transport sector and has worked with Train Operating Companies including Transpennine Express, Northern Rail, Avanti West Coast and Transport Scotland in matters relating to disability access groups. He was a non-executive director of Blackpool Transport specialising in accessibility.

Stephen is a member of the Department for Transport Inclusive Strategy Policy Group and works with The Rail Delivery Group, Office of Road and Rail, Network Rail and industry wide accessibility bodies.

He was appointed for a three-year post as the minister’s Disability Champion for the Rail Sector at the Department for Work and Pensions, Office for Disability Issues (now the Cabinet Office Disability Unit), in January 2018 and at the end of his official term still works with the Cabinet Office Disability Unit.

In 2020, Stephen was appointed as Rail Policy Adviser for Disability Rights UK, the leading pan-disability disabled persons’ organisation campaigning for equal participation for all.

Outside of his work, Stephen has been Coordinator of the Disability Hate Crime Network since April 2008 and received the national CPS/RADAR award in 2010 for his work at the network. He enjoys reading, preserved railways and cooking. Stephen was awarded an MBE in 1990 for humanitarian work assisting civilian Gulf War victims.