Disability Discrimination Transport Regulations 

From 25 January 2010 disabled people have legal protection against discrimination when using various forms of transport.

The Disability Discrimination (Transport Vehicles) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 now make it unlawful for operators of trains, buses and coaches, taxis, vehicle rental and vehicle breakdown services to refuse service or to provide service of a lower standard or on worse terms to a disabled person because of their disability. Transport providers will also be under a legal duty to make alterations to their existing practices to ensure that their services are accessible to disabled people.

To publicise and promote the Regulations the Commission is running an advertising campaign commencing on 25 January 2010.  The campaign will include, television and radio adverts, along with billboard, magazine and magazine advertising.

 

Click on the links below to listen to the radio advertisements.

Radio advertisement 1

Radio advertisement 2

The key messages of the advertising campaign are:

1. Disabled people have new rights in relation to access to certain types of public transport vehicles and

2. Providers of certain types of public transport vehicles have new responsibilities regarding accessibility of these vehicles for disabled people.

The target audiences for these messages are:

• Disabled and older people who currently use transport services
• Disabled people who do not use transport services
• Transport providers - bus,coach, rail, taxi, hire vehicles and breakdown/recovery vehicle providers
• General public and especially older people (as the levels of disability increases as people get older).

We have produced a number of short guides for transport providers and users on the content and application of the Disability Discrimination (Transport Vehicles) Regulations (NI).  The guides can be accessed by clicking here.