With transportation cuts in Britain, wheelchair user has an extra mile to go

From The Weston Mercury in the UK:

An angry wheelchair user says he feels like an outcast against after a vital bus service was cut.

Disability campaigner Garry Clayton, aged 52, (pictured) has been left with a one-mile roll over a steep bridge to catch an accessible vehicle from Canberra Road.

The Lonsdale Avenue resident used the 13 and 14 services as a lifeline for trips to town until the routes were changed by First on Sunday.

Mr Clayton said: "It makes me feel like an outcast. I don't see why I should not be able to get a bus in this day and age.

"I pay my taxes and bus fares like everybody else and it seems I'm treated differently because of my wheelchair.

"I go on holidays to places worse-off than the UK and have never had any trouble, so I don't see why I can't catch a bus from my own road."

Mr Clayton, who has been in a wheelchair for 10 years, now has to travel across a steep footbridge to get to his new stop.

The former chef, who lost one leg in a motorbike accident in the 1970s and use of the other 10 years ago after a spinal injury, won a battle to get accessible buses running from the Bournville estate five years ago.

But his good work was undone by First's review and he was forced to make the trip to catch the seven service bus from the Coronation Estate on Monday.

He added: "The changes have made it very difficult for me to get to the bus service.

"I think it's ludicrous, this is a step backwards."

The route change means the 14 service misses out the Bournville, while the 13 ceased to run.

A spokesman for First said: "We understand that not all of the changes will be popular with everyone and we regret that Mr Clayton has been inconvenienced but we believe that overall the new network in Weston provides an improved, simplified service for most customers."

The spokesman added that 70 per cent of the company's fleet is accessible to disabled people.