Legal Team To Attend Event Later This Week

Lawyers acting for two disabled adults in a legal challenge against Salford City Council’s decision to cut vital transport services for vulnerable people in the area are attending a public meeting organised by campaigners opposing the plans later this week.

Irwin Mitchell’s Public Law team is bringing a judicial review at the High Court in Manchester next month challenging the council’s announcement in July that it intended to withdraw a wheelchair-adapted bus service, which took many disabled people in the area to day centres, from the end of August.

Now, ahead of the hearing on October 15th, the legal experts are attending a public meeting organised by campaigners at Swinton Royal British Legion on Thursday evening (September 25th) at 7pm, where they will gather evidence from those affected by the decision to support the legal action.

Expert Opinion

While we represent two people who have been left facing serious complications as a result of the proposed removal of the service, we know that a great number of people in this community have faced similar problems.

"Many vulnerable members of society rely on this transport to get the best from life and access vital day centre support. However, we are concerned that the removal of this service will only serve to deprive them of the support they require.

"We are keen to speak to as many people as possible to gather further information regarding the very real impact the withdrawal of this service could have. Any information we can gather could prove critical in the effort to ensure that the voice of the local community is heard on this vital issue." Mathieu Culverhouse - Partner

The Public Law team at Irwin Mitchell is acting for both Michael Robson, from Swinton, and Jennifer Barrett from Salford in this case.

Michael has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and attends day centres in Stockport and Salford across the week as part of his support needs. He uses the transport service in question to attend the St George’s Day Centre in Salford two days a week.

Jennifer, 41, has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. The service allows her to attend the Waterside Resource Centre in Salford four days a week.

The challenge by the legal team, who also obtained assurance that an interim transport service would continue to operate while the long-term future of the service is being debated, is based on several grounds including:

• That the council failed to carry out assessments of people’s care needs and how they can be met;
• That the local authority failed to put forward sufficient reasons for the decision, which would have ensured the plans were properly considered;
• That the council failed to meet its responsibilities under the Equality Act, as it failed to gather information regarding the potential impact of the decision could have on disabled people.