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Disabled petition
Page 20
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• London Dial-a-Ride Users Association has delivered a petition to the House of Commons calling for all new buses and coaches bought from 1992 to be fully accessible for the disabled, including wheelchair users.
The petition has wide support from organisations representing the elderly and the disabled, and from MPs including Jack Ashley, Tom Clarke and Emma Nicholson.
A spokesman says that wheelchair-accessible buses would cost little more than present designs and would attract more passengers from the six million disabled people in the UK. Double-deck coaches exist with wheelchair access.
Anne Frye of the Department of Transport's Disability Unit says that a wheelchairaccessible midibus will be demonstrated later this year and there are plans to bring in a full-size low-floor bus from the Netherlands.
However, the Bus and Coach Council says the petition organisers' view of the costs involved is unrealistic, especially for coaches.
Any legislation would probably have to be made at European Community rather than at national level, it points out.