Getting around in my part of the North West is taxing at the best of times but if, like me, you also live in a rural area and use a wheelchair all of the time, it becomes virtually impossible.

Getting to the doctors, shops, post office or even out for the evening are out of the question without personal transport of your own. It’s not that I don’t want to use public transport its just they seem not to want me! Normal scheduled services are just not accessible.

As a wheelchair user planning is part of my life. I can’t just suddenly decide to go anywhere without thinking well ahead, sometimes weeks. A journey to the nearest town would, for the average person, involve a bus journey, possibly the train and then a taxi. This can be done at the drop of a hat but for me, and many people with disabilities, it involves a number of hurdles.

Firstly getting to the station would involve a bus journey but there aren’t any I can use, so I need a taxi or Community Transport. Accessible taxis are few and far between and often the alternative is a minibus for which I am charged a premium. I can only have use of the bus after 9.30am and before 3pm because they need it for the school run. Community Transport could do it but they have to travel along way to get to me and don’t work after 5pm.

At the railway station I have to remember to notify the staff 24 hrs previous that I will need a ramp. The ramp is kept at another station and needs to be brought by train. I am lucky it is here and get on - let’s hope I can get off - it’s not unusual to be forgotten at the other end, so I’m unable to get off. Then it’s the taxi again. No going to the rank to get into town, I have to book one. Overall, a simple journey becomes an expensive, unpredictable nightmare and only available to me when nobody else wants it. No wonder I use my own transport - I have no alternative.

Mark Tennant