Travel and Transport

If you receive the higher mobility component of either Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP), you may be eligible to:

• get a vehicle
• have a vehicle adapted to meet your needs
• get equipment for your car

Motability vehicles

Motability offer a scheme for any child or adult who is in receipt of the higher mobility component of DLA or PIP.  The scheme allows the disabled person to use the mobility element of their benefit to lease a vehicle such as a car, mobility scooter or powered wheelchair.  Motability cars may be driven by the disabled person themselves or by their carer(s). 

Please note that if you stop receiving the higher mobility rate of DLA or PIP, you may have to return the vehicle.

Disability Driving Instructors

The Association of Disability Driving Instructors, has an online register of driving instructors who can help people with physical disabilities, special educational needs and those with hearing difficulties learn to drive.

You can apply for a Blue Badge if you:

• receive the Higher Rate of the Mobility Component of the Disability Living Allowance (HRMCDLA)
• receive the moving around descriptor for the Mobility Component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with a score of 8 or more points
• receive the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment with a score of 10 points specifically for Descriptor E, the “planning and following journeys” activity on the grounds undertaking any journey would cause overwhelming psychological distress
• are registered blind (severely sight impaired)
• receive a War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement (WMPS)
• have been awarded a lump sum benefit at tariffs 1-8 of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• are certified as having an enduring and substantial disability which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking

Find out more infomation and how to apply

You can apply for a disabled person's bus pass if your disability falls into the following categories:

• blind or partially sighted (category A)
• profoundly or severely deaf (category B)
• being without speech - this doesn't include those whose speech may be difficult to understand or who have language difficulties (category C)
• walking impairment, due to having a disability, or having suffered an injury, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to walk (category D)
• no arms, also the long-term loss of the use of both arms (category E)
• learning disability that is a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind, which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning, which must have started before adulthood (category F)
• physically unfit to drive - if you applied for the grant of a licence to drive a motor vehicle under Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1988, would have an application refused pursuant to section 92 of that Act (physical fitness) otherwise than on the grounds of persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol (category G)

More information about Bus services in Central Bedfordshire and also how to  apply for a disabled person's bus pass

Bus passes and rail services

A bus pass issued by Central Bedfordshire Council also allows you to rail travel for half the normal adult fare on the following rail services:

• Thameslink and Great Northern trains between Sandy, Biggleswade and Arlesey and any station as far as Hadley Wood, Crews Hill and Royston
• Thameslink and Great Northern trains between Bedford and Elstree & Borehamwood and stations in between
• East Midland trains between Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway
• London North Western trains on the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley

Disabled Persons Railcards

If you have a disability that makes travelling by train difficult, you might qualify for a disabled person's railcard. The railcard allows you, and 1 adult travelling with you, to get a third off of most rail fares throughout Great Britain.

Please visit the disabled person's railcard website for more information.

Special assistance is available to passengers who may need help to travel such as the elderly, those people with a physical disability, such as wheelchair users, and those who have difficulty with social interaction and communication, such as those with autism or dementia.

Your right to special assistance is stipulated in UK law and applies when:

• You fly on any airline from a UK airport
• You fly on an EU or UK registered airline to an UK airport
• You fly from outside of the UK or EU to the EU on a UK carrier

Passengers who want special assistance should aim to give their airline 48 hours notice of the help they require.

Help is available from the moment you arrive at an airport and can cover:

• your journey through your departure airport
• boarding the aircraft and during the flight
• disembarking the aircraft
• transferring between flights
  and
• travelling through your destination airport

More information can be found under Travel Assistance

If you're referred to hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostic tests by a doctor, dentist or another primary care health professional, you may be able to claim a refund of reasonable travel costs under the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS).

Find out if you are eligible for the scheme and how to make a claim on the NHS website.