Petition to save Ring & Ride for stair lift users

A petition has received a two-foot high level of response to save the West Midlands Ring & Ride service. The service provides a vital facility for the area’s elderly and residents with mobility difficulties who use stair lifts in the home, offering much-needed transport.

Campaigners ‘are calling for legislation to oblige all local authorities to provide and maintain a specified standard of accessible transport for all who need it to assure a degree of personal mobility’. The petition has received 55,000 signatures so far and has been submitted to the leaders of seven West Midlands councils, with campaigners hoping that the council will look to reconsider the cuts to the service which could eventually lead to it being removed altogether.

Petition to save service

The petition was organised by the West Midlands Pensioners’ Convention and has been signed by many local elderly residents and users of home stair lifts who rely on the service to get around outside of their home. Save Ring & Ride West Midlands campaign coordinator Richard Worrall said in an article that, “I really hope that the leaders will do whatever they can to mitigate the impact of Government cuts on this vitally-needed service".

In addition to coordinating the petition, Mr Worrall, along with others who regularly use the Ring & Ride, attended a meeting of leaders in Birmingham to try and persuade them to save the service. They brought with them a number of letters from Ring & Ride users explaining how much they need the service, as those who rely on easy access walk in baths and showers and other mobility aids around the home could find themselves completely home-ridden without such a service.

Such a huge response from West Midlands residents show the widespread concern over the future of the service as the councils look to save the equivalent of 10 percent of the transport authority’s budget.

Image Credit: Hades2k (flickr.com)