Over a year after campaigner Doug Paulley won his historic case in the Supreme Court, I welcome news that, finally, ministers intend to improve bus access for wheelchair users.
We know that government moves slowly, but signs saying wheelchair users have priority over buggies, plus driver powers to insist a wheelchair space on public transport is vacated, are all under consideration.
Signs and campaigns are unlikely to prove sufficient and we look forward to a package of measures being announced later this year.
No one in The British Polio Fellowship wants confrontation with others who rely on public transport, too. The disabled community fear travel enough, without adding public resentment.
It boils down to a crisis in public transport, when able and disabled travellers are fighting for scraps. It took hard fought battles by our late member Sir Bert Massie and others, for wheelchairs to be accepted on bus, taxi and train and Mr Pauley’s experiences remain common among many living with Post Polio Syndrome (PPS).
More space for all is the answer and radical solutions, rather than signs, must start to come forward.
David Mitchell
National Chairman, The British Polio Fellowship
