Accessible Coach Hire: Considerations for Travelling with Disabled Passengers

If you have any disabled people included in your group when you're looking to book coach hire, it's really important to make sure this is known about before confirming the booking. Unfortunately coaches do vary with regards to disabled facilities, so it's best to make your specific requirements clear, to ensure you can be provided with a suitable vehicle.

So let's take a look at some of the factors and considerations we need to think about when looking for suitable coach hire for disabled passengers.

Choosing a suitable coach

Unfortunately for a variety of reasons such as age and type of vehicle not all private coaches in the UK are fitted with disabled facilities, although on a positive note many are. So if you have one or more disabled passengers in your group, the first thing you need to do when booking privately is to select a coach hire company that offers accessible vehicles equipped with features like wheelchair ramps and other fittings to allow for access.

Discuss Specific Requirements

Let the coach company or provider know what your requirements are, and check if they have an appropriate coach that will enable disabled access. Give details about the number of disabled passengers in your group, along with any mobility aids they use. Discuss the seating arrangements and that there are designated secure spaces for wheelchair users to make sure it's all going to be suitable. If there are any medical conditions the driver needs to be aware of, make sure this is made clear and check the coach hire company will be able to deal with any emergencies.

Long journeys

If your party is planning on a long coach trip with disabled passengers, you might need to think about where the coach is going to stop along the way for rest breaks, and what the disabled facilities are going to be like. As much as possible try and identify places to stop that are going to be wheelchair friendly so that disabled passengers are able to take full advantage of the break like everyone else. Also it's worth bearing in mind that even coaches equipped for wheelchair access will not necessarily have disabled toilet facilities on board (or any toilets at all), so additional stops may be needed depending on how far you're going.

For peace of mind you might also want to check the coach provider employs experienced drivers who are familiar with handling passengers with disabilities. If they are used to giving assistance to disabled passengers when boarding and disembarking it's going to make a big difference.

Last thoughts

Although insurance is hardly ever needed in reality, just make sure the coach company are covered if there needs to be any claims associated with a disabled passenger. And try to make sure you book well in advance so the coach provider has plenty of time to arrange what you need.

With the right planning there's no reason why a group that includes disabled passengers can't have a secure and pleasant journey and hopefully have a trip that will be remembered for all the right reasons.

Happy travels!