Ex-teacher in war of independence
Jul 7 2008 by Paul James, The Journal
A RETIRED teacher yesterday told how the ban on mobility scooters on the Tyne and Wear Metro has all but ended her independence and social life.
Susan Calvert used to attend three weekly meetings with fellow MS sufferers by catching a train, but now struggles to make even one since the new rule came into force.
Metro chiefs, following four accidents in just over a year, have made it compulsory for everyone on a mobility scooter to have a companion on foot who is able to help them.
But wheelchair-bound mother-of-three Mrs Calvert, 56, of Clifton Terrace, Forest Hall, North Tyneside, who would base her trips not on distance but on where Metro stations were easiest to negotiate, said she would happily pay for and take a competency test to get her life back.
Husband Stephen, 58, an engineer, and their three daughters all work, as do her able-bodied friends, leaving her without a regular companion to call on.
As national disability campaigners also warned of inaccessible public transport being a “key barrier” to disabled people living independently, Metro chiefs said safety considerations had to come first.
Mrs Calvert was diagnosed at 40 in 1992 after leaving work to bring up Jennifer, 25, Gillian, 23, and Ruth, 19, and continued driving until about seven years ago.
Since then she has used her scooter to get around, attending up to five MS group sessions in Whitley Bay, North Shields and in Gosforth. Now she is lucky to get to one a week, at Gosforth, travelling the three miles on her scooter instead of using the Metro.
Yesterday Mrs Calvert, who worked at Tyneview Primary School in Walker, Newcastle, until her first child was born, said: “My social life has been totally destroyed. The only thing I manage is going to Gosforth on a Tuesday because I can go all the way there on my scooter.
“I’m spending more and more time at home. I’m not house-bound because I have my buggy but I can’t go to the MS drop-in at Whitley Bay. You meet people with the same difficulties and who really understand. Most able-bodied people don’t understand the impacts of MS.”
Metro operator Nexus is considering legal action against a 73-year-old man who fell on to the tracks in his electronic wheelchair at Byker Metro last Saturday, to recover the costs incurred by suspending the service.
Mrs Calvert now fears the recent near-misses involving mobility scooters will put an end to her social life and regular contact with others with MS.
She added: “I read the report of the man at Byker. It annoys me I’m being penalised for somebody else’s mistakes. If they want to do a competency test that’s OK. I not only know which stations are easier to manage but whereabouts on the train I have to be. If a test incurs a cost I can cope with that. I know I could do it. If some people can’t, that’s their problem.”
Bernard Garner, director general of Nexus, said: “We had no choice but to require scooter users travel with a companion on the Metro for safety reasons. If a train were to strike a scooter and become derailed the consequences would be unthinkable, and four accidents in just over a year show there is a real risk. We took a difficult decision but the only alternative would have been an outright ban. I’ve met Mrs Calvert, I understand the difficulty she now faces using Metro and sympathise with her, but safety must come first.”
---------------------------------------------------------
Safety rule follows accidents
THE new Metro rules, introduced in April 2008, require mobility scooter users to travel with a companion on foot who is able to assist them.
There has now been four serious incidents involving electronic wheelchairs on Metro trains in just over a year.
On two occasions, scooters crashed through closed train doors on to the line below.
On two other occasions – including the latest at Byker last month – scooter riders have lost control and ended up driving on to the line.
A police accident investigation into an accident at Howdon in April showed the scooter involved needed up to twice its own length to stop – more than the width of Metro station platforms and the width of trains.
The rule does not apply to powered wheelchair users who may travel unaccompanied, although Mrs Calvert said she fears the front wheels of her wheelchair are not big enough to bridge the gap between station and platform.
Last week Nexus won a National NHS Health and Social Care Award for its Partners In Travel project to give people with learning difficulties the confidence to travel independently. In 2006 Metro was awarded the Golden Ribbon by the Guide Dog for the Blind Association.
