Free Concessionary Travel for Carers

My local council already provides free transport for carers. Is this just a Scotland thing? Also there is a Disabled Railcard which enables carers and the disabled person to travel for 1/3 off.

Hi Trisher, Thanks for getting in touch. What local council do you belong to? I am aware of the discount and the concession bus card however this isnt always helpful to every carer as often a carer will need to access public transport without the card holder as part of their caring role. This campaign is UK wide as stated in the petitions breif.

Thanks
Amanda

Same here, there is a card for a carer to use, on the buses at the very least, but this is in England.

X posts.
You need to be with the person you are caring for to use the card.Probably too open to fraudulently using it otherwise.

It's the person who needs the care who has a bus pass to be accompanied.
That's so that anyone can accompany him/her on public transport, not just the main carer.

Here, the person who needs care has a 'companion' section on their travel pass.

Hi everybody thankyou for the replies, my aim is to make concessionary transport available to named carer without the cared for person having to be present. Carers may often need to go about their daily caring role and do tasks that will involve public transport however can often be made to face the choice of eating or bus fares for the day.

Thanks
Amanda

Hi Amanda, there woud be so many problems with this. Who decides what is part of a carer's role and what isn't? And what about Blue badges for cars? At present they can only be used when the disabled person is present, so would they be extended to allow use at other times?

Hi Trisher,

I get that there is barriers to face and overcome however i feel that it is worth it. Carers assessments could come in handy here as they detail what they do in their caring roles, such as trips to the chemist or doctors appointments etc. Blue badges could be extended in the same way yes.

Amanda

Why should blue badges change?
You could always drive a motability car without that person being in it, provided you were using it to get something for the disabled person, but you would never dream of using the blue badge without the person being in it. There would be no need.

But dj it wouldn't be fair if carers who used public ransport had free travel for certain trips but those who used cars were restricted to outings with the disabled person

It used to be the other way round. I don't understand.
My husband had a motability car. It wouldn't have been fair if when I had to go and get the shopping, half for him and half for me, that I had to take him with me every time, even though he was bedridden for much of the last month of his life.
I would have had to walk to the bus stop, and be away for at least an hour longer, which would have meant I couldn't leave the house without him.
He also had a buspass with a companion, as he could fall over when on his own. He hated it when people noticed he lost his balance all the time. He had that for fifteen years.

Problems with rail as well.

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/rail-ministers-postbag-is-overflowing-with-complaints-about-passenger-assistance/

Not that we ever did after he became disabled. It was too difficult.

How would the carer prove that the journey was for the benefit of the person needing care ?
What's to stop them using the free pass to visit the hairdresser or go the cinema for example. It's too open to abuse in my opinion.

Carers could have photo I.D on a bus pass, I suppose? I seemed to spend the last part of my mums life picking up prescriptions which hadn't been delivered and all manner of things which involved trudging here there and everywhere.

dj you aren't allowed to use the Blue badge unless the person is in the car with you. This even includes dropping the person off and then going to park the car-can't use the Blue badge for parking. Authorities are really tough about this because there has been abuse and people using the badges who aren't entitled to.