STRANDED AT TRAIN STATION
David’s six-hour wait at 1am for a cab
A LONE wheelchair user was left stranded outside a railway station for six hours as there were no adapted taxis to take him home.
David Tares’ train was delayed on his way to Stirling so he missed his last train home to Alloa, near his home in Sauchie.
David has cerebral palsy and has been using an electric wheelchair for about seven years. He had been to Edinburgh for a gig at the Queen’s Hall on Sunday.
But the 11.03pm service set to arrive in Stirling at 11.47pm didn’t get in until 1am due to delays. Scotrail customer service centre staff had contacted several taxi firms early on Sunday in the Stirling area and further afield, to source David an accessible taxi, but had no success.
The 60-year-old said: “I was left outside Stirling station in the cold and dark for about six hours alone on Sunday morning.
“It was fortunate that the weather was fairly mild. There was nowhere I could go to the toilet and I was in some discomfort.
“There should have been some kind of fallback position to help me. In this day and age this shouldn’t be happening.”
David called again for a taxi at 6.30am and one arrived 45 minutes later to take him to Sauchie where he lives with partner Hayley and step-daughter Poppy-May.
Stirling Area Access Panel said this week that they had received a complaint from another wheelchair user earlier this year who also had difficulty finding an accessible taxi.
ScotRail head of customer operations Phil Campbell said: “Our staff did everything they could to try and source an accessible taxi, We’re carrying out an investigation to help ensure incidents like this don’t happen again, and will be in touch with Mr Tares directly.”