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Disabled man to take bus firm to court over access details
A WHEELCHAIR user is taking a bus operator to court for failing to list which of its services offer accessible buses.
Doug Paulley from Wetherby said he has repeatedly asked Transdev Harrogate and District to alter its timetables so other wheelchair-users know which buses they will be able to get on.
Although the 770 service from Wetherby to Harrogate is run entirely with accessible buses, other routes are not.
Mr Paulley said he has been trying for months to get the company to fully publicise which services are accessible but has received no response to his letters.
He is now taking court action as a last resort.
Mr Paulley said: “I wrote to them a couple of years ago and moaned because I never knew whether the 770 [to Harrogate] was going to be accessible or not. They wrote back and said as of April last year they would all be accessible.
“But it’s a problem if I want to go further afield from Harrogate. I could catch the 770 to Harrogate and try to get to Knaresborough but I’ve got no idea whether it’s accessible or not.”
He believes the company is in violation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 because wheelchair users are given a worse service than people who do not use a wheelchair.
“It’s discriminatory because people who aren’t wheelchair users can just look at the time table and see when they can get a bus,” he said.
Although Mr Paulley is taking the company to court, he said he is not trying to make money from the case, which is not likely to be heard for several weeks.
He is claiming only 1 in damages because his real aim is to force the bus company to improve its information for disabled passengers – something he thought it would do immediately when he mentioned legal action.
“I was really surprised when they said they were going to defend it,” he said. “I will have to read their defence and see if I’m happy with it. It’s more the principle of the thing and the way they have treated me and not responded to me properly.”
No one from Transdev Harrogate and District was available to give a response before the Wetherby News went to press.
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Weather for Wetherby
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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