Taxi Driver Online

Carers for disabled passengers should fly for free, MPs say



Carers should not be charged to fly if airline rules mean disabled people have to be accompanied, MPs have said.

Some airlines require carers for people who cannot manage emergency procedures, so the Transport Select Committee wants an EU rule that carers should not pay.

In a wide-ranging report, the MPs said UK transport access for the disabled was "unacceptably poor" and momentum had been lost after the Paralympics.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said it was improving access.

Launching the Access to Transport for Disabled People report, Transport Select Committee chairwoman Louise Ellman said changes before the 2012 Paralympic Games had shown the "immense value" of better access.

"Yet a year later, there is a risk that some of the momentum from London 2012 is being lost because further key accessibility improvements planned by DfT are being watered down or abandoned," she said.

Among the committee's proposals were calls for bus drivers to get disability awareness training and rail operators to provide "organised assistance" as standard.

It also suggested financial incentives to make all taxis and private hire vehicles accessible within 10 years and called on the government to try to get an EU regulation on free air travel for carers.

Improving access to transport would help cut benefits spending as more people would be able to go out and work, the MPs said.

They also said it would boost the economy by letting more disabled people visit cafes, bars and shops, and make it easier to reach healthcare centres - reducing the need for home visits.

Guy Parckar, of charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, said: "All too often, disabled people find that inaccessible transport prevents them from enjoying the same opportunities as anyone else."

He said improvements had been made but the UK should be a "world leader in access for disabled people".

The DfT said it was "taking action" to provide high-quality, accessible public transport.

"For example, our £370m Access for All programme is delivering improvements at over 1,000 train stations and we recently announced an additional £100m to carry the work of the scheme forward," a spokesman said.

"We thank the committee for its work and will respond to the report and its recommendations in due course."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24120015

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Tens of millions of £ have been spent making every bus in London wheelchair accessible, yet a recent survey showed the wheelchair ramps were used about 60 times a day across the whole of London!

Well we are the leaders in free travel for carers.

100% of carers travel free with their clients in taxis and PH.

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IDFIMH

That Idea wont last the tomato season, they love these things only if the burden of costs falls on the individuals concerned, it'll be a non starter if the government of the day has to spend it's own money on it.

Besides, Britain's near bankrupt now due to it's national debt and we are borrowing more by the day, In ten years time this lot of lukewarm MP's will can hardly afford their own wages never mind such grandiose overkill ideas.

Errr.......Don't those that need it (and a few that Don't) already get a chunky mobility allowance to assist them with the extra costs of getting about. they also have access to state paid personal assistants in a lot of cases, just how much more must we spend on them??

I'm sure one day they will realise it is cheaper to let them stay at home instead of trying to force them out into the community and going to work so that they can contribute to this financial fiasco. I think it would be more cost effective if the government paid for accessible vehicles and maintained them instead of giving out new cars like confetti, that way they could truely contribute to the economy by paying fares from their allowance. I think the older I get the more cynical I become



Well with the recent announcement of the share sales (to the select few) of Lloyds TSB and the sale of the Post Office and possible further sales of shares for the bank, the government will be able to announce that they have reduced the deficit just in time for the next election and will have filled the coffers enough to keep them in wages for another term, after that they won't care they'll already have all they need and some Did I mention that the older I get the more cynical I'm becoming.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

I cannot become anymore cynical than I am!

I remember when Obama was running for President, I was watching him making a speech and thinking, he's good - I cannot spot the lie

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

When I get 4 passengers 75% travel free.

They get £55.25 a week, if they qualify for high rate mobility allowance, which most disabled people do not get. If they hire a mobility car, they loose all of this amount. (it is hired, they do not own it)

That's £7.89 a day. How many return trips a day would you do for that chunky amount bloodnock?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

So if they are splitting the fare does that mean they only pay 25%

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Its approximately £2880 per year, Now, dunno about Aberdeen Millionaires like yourself but that's Chunky Money to me...Tax free as well. sweet, all you need at entry level for this chunky money is a Walking stick, Mild Obesity or a moderate wheeze from 25 years of having to many fags, at least that seems to work down here.

It's funny how MP's like to be seen as nice caring people when it suits them to be yet are callous uncaring prats the rest of the time when theirs nothing in it for them like votes. The always listen to the Vociferous minority groups over the silent majority in the mistaken belief that it's a trendy vote bagger.

Most MP's really don't care, they just want to appear to care hence they go overboard on such matters as Mobility, Disabled access and Volunteer/Charity organisations and expect 100% of everything to be available 100% of the time for use of around only 2% of the population whether it bankrupts us or not.

shyte

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He's the slave of all slaves who serves none but himself.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Mark Twain

Alba Gu Bràth

Don't let him get to you. He's been reading the Tory press too long and bought shares in their scrounger narratives.
He thinks 99% of the unemployed and the disabled are bone idle scroungers, just swinging the lead and sponging off the rest of us.
Anything else is the fault of johnny foreigners or Eck Salmond.

Never mind that the bankers sponged more off of us in an afternoon than the entire welfare state spent in a decade. Deluded fool.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/