Petition For The How Do We Get Home Campaign

From 1st April 2012 disabled people in some London boroughs who use the Taxicard scheme and also hold either a Freedom Pass or a Blue Badge had their yearly Taxicard trips cut to 52. This entitles them to one trip per week and means that unless they only use the scheme once in two weeks they cannot book return journeys on a Taxicard. Freedom Pass users may be able to use their entitlement to free public transport to get home independently after their weekly Taxicard trip, although this seems like a strange suggestion and may not always be possible or practical for disabled people. The changes are particularly unfair on Blue Badge holders who may not be able to use public transport independently. The suggestion that holding a Blue Badge should entitle a person to less Taxicard trips makes little sense as a Blue Badge does not automatically give a disabled person access to their own car. Blue Badges can be carried and used by disabled people who are passengers in cars. We believe that the changes to the Taxicard scheme severely restrict our independence and our social lives. We petition the London Councils Taxicard service to give us back a minimum of 104 trips per year and therefore allow us to get home both safely and independently every time we use our Taxicard.