Metro mobility scooter ban review

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 30th Apr 2008

Metro train

The operator of the Tyne and Wear Metro is reviewing its ban on mobility scooter users travelling on the system without a helper. The ban was imposed after two accidents in which scooter owners crashed through train doors and onto tracks.

Operator Nexus has now promised to review the rule following protests from disabled passengers. But it has said the ban will remain in place until a consultation process has been completed.

Protestor Susan Calvert said the restriction, which was imposed last week after the latest accident, had robbed her of her independence. She said: "My husband and most of my friends are at work during the day, so I'm upset at being told that I can't go on the Metro alone." Mrs Calvert was accompanied to the meeting by a BBC Look North TV crew.

Nexus director general Bernard Garner said the firm would be speaking to disability groups to establish how mobility scooter users could travel on the Metro safely. He said: "There is a problem at the moment with mobility scooters using the metro and until we can establish a safe way in which they can use the system the ban must remain in place. We must operate a safe railway."

A man was rescued by emergency services after plunging onto stretch of track at Howden station, in North Tyneside on April 24. Last year, an elderly woman on a mobility scooter crashed through train doors and onto the Metro track after boarding a train at Brockley Whins station, South Tyneside. The woman suffered bruising but was not seriously hurt.

The restriction applies to powered mobility scooters but not to electric wheelchairs.