The row over using mobility scooters on Manchester’s Metrolink is still running. Now rail operators in the West have also been accused of discrimination.

According to This Is Somerset,  First Great Western, the West’s biggest train operator has banned motorised mobility scooters from it’s whole fleet of carriages.

90-year-old Mr Morris had used his mobility scooter on board for four years, but has received a letter informing him not to travel with ‘his buggy’.

Age Concern said, “Public transport is a lifeline to many older and disabled people and plays a key role in them maintaining their independence and combating isolation. It’s sad in the 21st century that older people and those with disabilities are denied access to services that are taken for granted by many.”

Back in Manchester, Metrolink is being urged to lift it’s ban on disabled people taking electric scooters on board trams. The Manshester Evening News reported that four Greater Manchester MPs have signed a motion in the House of Commons saying the move to enforce the ban discriminates against disabled people.

Bury South MP Ivan Lewis said: “This is an appalling decision by the transport authority and Metrolink.

“They claim that there are health and safety concerns, but what about the basic right of local people to access public transport that we all help to fund?”

The motion has also been signed by MPs Paul Goggins, Tony Lloyd and Jim Dobbin.

It calls on the tram network to reverse the ban with ‘immediate effect’ and begin consultation with disabled passengers.

ScootersUK asks why were disabled and elderly people not consulted more widely before the Metrolink was designed. As mobility scooters become more and more popular, and provide a great way for people to remain independence and mobility – problems of this nature are going to happen more and more often. More thought needs to be made before transport plans are put into action – not afterwards.

Mobility scooter users have used the Metrolink trams in Greater Manchester despite bylaws banning their use. However, the bylaws are being enforced more stringently after a man fell off the platform at one of the Metrolink stations.  He was trying to turn his mobility scooter at the time.

Metrolink say that mobility scooters are not allowed to use the trams as they can potentially tip over and as they don’t turn on their own axis they are difficult to manoeuvre. They have not officially been allowed on Metrolink trams since it opened in 1992.

Metrolink’s website says:

• Metrolink is an easily accessible system, all stops have either a ramp, lift or escalator access.
• Most platforms have tactile edges for visually impaired passengers.
• All platforms have designated wheelchair/pushchair access point for step free access.
• Each tram has designated disabled/pushchair areas with its own emergency / information call points.
• With this facility, Metrolink is attractive to passengers with disabilities, those with young children using prams or pushchairs or carrying heavy shopping.

Is banning mobility scooters on the Metrolink systemreally making Metrolink attractive to passengers with disabilities though?

The local MP said, “They claim that there are health and safety concerns, but what about the basic right of local people to access public transport that we all help to fund?”

Health and Safety Gone Mad?

He added that “It is utterly incomprehensible to me that Metrolink staff are forcibly stopping disabled people from travelling.”

For people whose quality of life depends on being able to use Metrolink stations and trams with their mobility scooter, the decision to ban scooters is robbing their independence.

At Scooters UK, we understand the need for safety, but surely all public transport should be accessible to everyone and this includes mobility scooter users.

The simple answer is no, not even on the pavement.

In the news today a man riding home on his scooter at less than 4 mph, Eamonn Donohoe wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry and didn’t appear to be a menace to pedestrians.

But when the drunken Irishman ignored a policeman’s attempt to flag him down, the local constabulary decided to take no chances.

As Mr Donohoe, 62, was trundling along the pavement near his sheltered bungalow he found himself surrounded by eight police officers and three marked vehicles.

One patrol car mounted the kerb to block his way and after failing a roadside breath test the disabled grandfather was locked in police cells for 12 hours, fingerprinted, photographed and had a DNA swab taken.

Mr Donohoe, who had drunk six or seven pints during an evening playing dominoes with friends at a local club, was three times over the limit.

He later admitted driving a mechanically propelled vehicle whilst over the limit on 20th April and was given a three year driving ban by magistrates at Chesterfield.

However, despite the nature of the offence he is legally free to continue riding his mobility scooter.

But the bizarre episode has left the retired construction worker from Old Whittington, Chesterfield, feeling disillusioned with the forces of law and order.

He said:’I can’t believe how they treated me – anybody would think that I was a bank robber or a member of Al-Qaeda.

‘The police are always saying they’re short of resources, and then go and employ eight officers arresting someone like me. It’s completely mad, and a total waste of public money.

‘When someone broke into my home and stole my TV and my video two years ago the police didn’t turn up for three days, and yet they can drop everything for something as daft as this. There’s no wonder the police get it in the neck.

‘They must have known, like I did, that the rules of the road don’t apply when you’re riding a mobility scooter down the pavement at three and a half miles an hour, but it didn’t seem to matter one jot.

‘I didn’t stop at first because I wanted to get home, and I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Then a police car turned up all of a sudden, and pulled up right across the footpath stopping me dead.

‘A police van pulled alongside me, and another car parked up on the road behind me so I couldn’t turn round. It was just like something out of a film.

‘There were eight police officers there altogether, and one of them grabbed the keys from the scooter, and said: “Come on – get off that!”

‘When they asked me to do breath test I said: “Don’t be stupid, I’m an old aged pensioner on a mobility scooter – I’m not blowing into anything,” but they insisted so I had to in the end.

‘They actually wanted to put me in handcuffs, but they stopped short of doing it in the end.’

Mr Donohoe, who is handicapped with blocked arteries in his legs, and can only walk a few yards unaided, intends to carry on riding backwards and forwards to see his friends to play dominoes at his local club once a week.

The divorcee, who has three children and ten grandchildren, added – said:’It’s not as if I’m going down the pavement swerving from side to side, and putting people at risk. I’m not a danger to anyone.’

A Derbyshire Police spokeswoman said: ‘He failed a breath test when he was stoppped, and was charged with driving a mechanically propelled vehicle while over the limit.

‘We cannot comment on how many officers dealt with the incident, but a person driving any kind of vehicle when they’re drunk are a danger to themselves and other people as well.’

The House of Commons Transport Committee is looking for more data on the use of scooters to be collected. Following a spate of recent accidents from uninsured users. It is estimated that there are a quater of a million  people using mobility scooters in the UK.

Tim Muffett on the BBC news reported that “Mobility scooters are a Godsend for some and a potential menace for others. Mobilty scooters can create freedom and independence as well as cause accidents.Now the controls on a scooter are fairly steaighforward to use, but some scooters can travel at up to 8mph on the roads and pavements, and to use one you don’t need any training you don’t need any tests and you don’t need to be insured. ”

Disablity Essex is a charity that runs training courses to improve scooter skills. Richard Boyd Chief Exec of Disability Essex “It’s a free for all, anybody can sell them, anybody can buy them, anybody can drive them, nobody checks that they are insured.”

Most mobilty scooter users don’t have accidents, but if they do they can be serious, even fatal. Suprisingly, perhaps there is no official data to the number of mobility scooter accidents or even the number of scooteers in use. This charity believes around 200000 have now been ridden in the UK. Todays report by the House of Commons Transport Committee, urges clarification on this. It also says that the Dept of Transport should spell out who is fit enough to drive a scooter in the first place.

Stuart Kirk, Chief Tutor of Disability Essex. ” A lot of people think there is only 1 speed control, and therefore put it on maximum, even when they are in the middle of a store -and cause total mayhem. Even when they are going backwards!”

The prospect of local schemes like this being rolled out on a national basis should also be considered according to the Transport Committee. For whatever reason some seem to find it hard to take mobility scooters seriously. However  the Transport Committee report says that this needs to change.

This is a transcript of Tim Muffets report for the BBC.

A new idea by police in Newport, Gwent is to install high pitch personal attack alarms to disabled and elderley persons mobility scooters, walking frames and walking sticks. The idea was  first raised by PC Dave Castree after speaking to local residents.

The fear of feeling vunerable or being attcked when out and about on a scooter sparked the idea to fit personal alarms that are easy to use by the click of a button to activate the alarm and deter any potential attacker.

The confidence and independence of disabled or elderly people is very important and this simple measure is providing confidence to users of mobility scooters when they go out.