Campaign News
Concessionary Travel Cards and other transport issues in mental health.
Concessionary Travel Cards and other transport issues in mental health.
In 2007/8, the Government passed its Concessionary Travel (Bus) Act aimed at improving access to public transport for retired people, and people with disabilities. However, this national scheme superceded many existing council schemes, including Derbyshire, and it was soon apparent that people with mental health issues currently entitled to a “Gold Card” would lose this facility.
This was due to the fact that the new legislation excluded mental health as a category for concessionary travel, except in those cases where the person was obliged to give up their driving license!
Pensioners and physically disabled people do not have to give up their driving license to get concessionary travel. Why are mentally ill people expected to do so? This is clear discrimination. MHAG continues to fight on this issue, even though we have not yet managed to get the Concessionary Travel Act amended to include mental illness as a category. MHAG has now set up a Transport Working Group to address a whole range of issues around travel and mental health.
We are pleased to announce that we now have a standing invitation to attend the Government’s Disabled People’s Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) in Westminster, and we are working very closely with its members and civil servants to keep mental health issues high up on their agenda.
This was due to the fact that the new legislation excluded mental health as a category for concessionary travel, except in those cases where the person was obliged to give up their driving license!
Pensioners and physically disabled people do not have to give up their driving license to get concessionary travel. Why are mentally ill people expected to do so? This is clear discrimination. MHAG continues to fight on this issue, even though we have not yet managed to get the Concessionary Travel Act amended to include mental illness as a category. MHAG has now set up a Transport Working Group to address a whole range of issues around travel and mental health.
We are pleased to announce that we now have a standing invitation to attend the Government’s Disabled People’s Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) in Westminster, and we are working very closely with its members and civil servants to keep mental health issues high up on their agenda.
MHAG Goes To Town!!!
MHAG members visited DPTAC on Wednesday 25th January 2012, and delivered a two-hour mental health awareness session to members and to policy leads from the Department for Transport.
This went down very well, and we had excellent feedback. We hope now that there will be a greater awareness when future policy is being drafted.
This went down very well, and we had excellent feedback. We hope now that there will be a greater awareness when future policy is being drafted.
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Mental Health Awareness Training for Bus Drivers
MHAG, Arriva and the Southern Derbyshire Voluntary Sector Mental Health Forum (SDVSMHF) are collaborating on the design of proposed awareness training for Arriva bus drivers, to help them understand the issues facing passengers with mental health problems. Also in December, MHAG members worked with trainers from Trent Barton to produce a training video for its own drivers.