Buses useless for disabled claims charity chairman

The chairman of a disabled rights charity has criticised the town’s new Little and Often minibuses as “utterly useless”.

Former borough councillor Michael Claughton is unhappy with the new minibus fleet, which he says were launched by Stagecoach last month without any consultation by the national company with the Ashford Access Group (AAC).

Mr Claughton, the group’s chairman, said: “The AAC is the first port of call for the council for things like the shared space, the Farrow Court housing scheme, Conningbrook Lake and so on.

“We have been working very closely with the William Harvey Hospital on better facilities for the disabled, clearer signage, all those sorts of things.

“But we have never been consulted on these minibuses, which are utterly useless for disabled people.”

The new 17-seater Mercedes Benz Sprinter City 45 minibuses have a disabled area, but this has Little and Often in Bank Street and inset, Michael Claughton not convinced the charity chairman.

Mr Claughton added: “I do not know who Stagecoach consulted with about the minibuses but they did not come to us.

“We have one member who uses a wheelchair who actually had to miss the bus because they could not get the wheelchair on it

“There’s no audio information for blind people. It seems not a lot of thought has gone in to these buses.

“Stagecoach should have had a consultation but it’s a case of horse, stabled, bolted now.

“I would have liked to have seen a proper.consultation where they asked ‘are these buses disabled friendly?’

“The buses look good and this is a step in the right direction, but we do not want discrimination.

“People should be catered for. The buses are clearly disabled kentishexpress@thekmgroup. co.uk unfriendly.”

Stagecoach has invested £2.8 million in the 30 vehicles, which have faux leather seats, clean engine technology and new payment options with contactless credit or debit cards.