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.