Avanti’s Accessibility Failure

I’m travelling by train in just over a week, and I signed up an account with Avanti West Coast, who proudly show off their Shaw Trust accessibility certificate.

Clearly that certificate only applies to their website, though, and not to e.g. their emails. When you sign up an account with them, you need to verify your email address. They send you a (HTML-only) email with a link to click. Here’s what that link looks like to a sighted person:

So far, so good. But here’s the HTML code they’re using to create that button. Maybe you’ll spot the problem:

<a href="https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/train-tickets/verify-email?prospectId=12345678&customerKey=12345:1234567"
 target="_blank"
  style="font-family:Averta, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

  <div class="mobile_image"
       style="font-family:Averta, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; display:none; border:none; text-align:center;">

    <img width="40%"
           src="https://image.e.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/lib/fe371170756404747d1670/m/1/9069c7a2-b9ed-4188-9809-bf58592ec002.png"
           alt=""
         style="font-family:Averta, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;width:143px; height:40px;" />

  </div>
</a>

Despite specifying the font to use three times, they don’t actually have any alt text. So for somebody who can’t see that image, the link is completely unusable¹.

This made me angry enough that I gave up on my transaction and bought my train tickets from LNER instead.

Accessibility matters. And that includes emails. Do better, Avanti.