It really doesn't get much madder than this. While Salford Council's specially adapted buses to transport vulnerable adults to day centres and respite centres are driving around the city almost empty, parents and carers are struggling to get their sons and daughters to the places on their own.
Gail Russell, mother of twin boys, Robert and Daniel, both totally blind with autism and learning difficulties, was horrified when she arrived at Waterside day centre in Clifton this week...
"There were three 24-seater buses with just one or two people on board and there's me run ragged with Robert and Daniel, one on one arm and one on the other" Gail fumes.
"I have to do everything for Robert and Daniel, it's round the clock care, without the Council putting more pressure on us by stopping the transport" she explains "From where I live in Eccles it's near enough an hour there and back, it's two hours a day, and I have another boy so I have to work around getting him to school: it's horrendous. And there's three empty buses there what's that all about?"
It's basically about Salford Council's arrogance in the face of a High Court judicial review into its decision to axe the transport service for the most vulnerable people in the city. The judicial review is set to be heard in October* but at a previous hearing the Council agreed to maintain its Passenger Transport Unit until a judgement has been made....
...So now, the Council is maintaining the service with hardly any people being transported despite an agreement in Court that any parents and carers who appealed against its decision to withdraw their transport would have an interim service.
The Council appears to be ignoring its own agreement and it's led, not only to parents and carers struggling to get their sons and daughters to day centres but also to the madness of a driver being seconded off the special transport buses to chauffeur the Ceremonial Mayor around Salford instead (for full details see previous Salford Star article click here)
"They did keep the transport on for an extra week, and Robert and Daniel were on the buses and then it stopped" says Gail "But at the time of the court case they were on it. I put an appeal in and am still waiting to hear.
"It's a nightmare" she adds "Our lives are bad enough without having to take them to the day centre. I have another boy so I have to work around getting him to school, and an elderly mother in law who I run around after, so all my time is now taken up. It's horrendous."
Gail's was just one of the stories told to solicitors from Irwin Mitchell law firm last night at a special meeting of parents, carers and supporters at Swinton Royal Britain Legion. The law firm - representing two named claimants, Michael Robson and Jennifer Barrett is taking Salford Council to the High Court for a judicial review into its decision to withdraw the transport service, believing the decision was unlawful because the consultation surrounding the cut and the assessments of the vulnerable adults wasn't done properly.
The solicitors were gathering witness statements about the impact of Salford Council's cut, and heard how many, including Gail, had appealed the decision to withdraw transport and had not even had the courtesy of a response.
In the meantime, the Council is still telling parents to use `alternative transport' which means either taking their sons and daughters to day centres themselves or putting them in expensive, unsuitable taxis.
One mum told the Salford Star of the horrendous experience her son, Phillip, had when using a taxi to get to work as a volunteer at a church in Little Hulton, during a day when he wasn't using the Council bus.
Phillip is 28 and has autism with severe and complex difficulties, trains three times a week at a garden centre in Irlam and does two days voluntary work. He used the Council bus three times a week and taxis for the other two days. On this particular day, he was put into a taxi to the venue by his carer, Marie. The taxi firm got the address wrong and instead of arriving in Little Hulton, he ended up at a church in Swinton. Marie didn't know what had happened until he failed to return home.
"He went into the church but was told politely to leave, and was gone all day" his mum recalls "In the end he was found in Swinton, outside St Peter's Church, but that was only because Marie had alerted people and the police were out looking for him. I felt like crying and Marie was distraught."
It's not just the emotional knife edge of wondering about the safety of their sons and daughters if using taxis, it's also the expense. Since the Council bus service was axed for Phillip for the three days he used it, it has been costing £17 per journey to get him to the garden centre in Irlam almost £100 per week plus the cost of taxis for the other two days voluntary work...a total cost of around £500 per month.
This appears to be the cost to parents and carers of Salford Council's `alternative transport arrangements' it's either the costly, possibly unsafe `alternative' of taxis, or the physically draining effort of parents and carers transporting their sons and daughters by themselves to centres. And at the centre of the controversy are the vulnerable adults themselves.
"I know the Council has to save money but they are picking on the wrong ones" says Gail "Picking on vulnerable adults is the wrong thing to do. I just want them to reinstate the transport.
"Robert and Daniel love going on that bus" she explains "That was one of the highlights of their day, getting picked up and going on a bus. They loved it, so that's another of their pleasures gone out of the window."
The judicial review court case was set for the 15th October but there is a public sector workers strike that day, so the hearing may now be moved.
For a full background on the cuts to Salford's Passenger Transport Unit and the judicial review, click here and click here and click here
Main photo shows Noreen Bailey with a petition for the Mayor
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