Poor publicity surrounding ENCTS eligibility for people with certain handicaps

[LE Greys]

Having just found a bus pass leaflet for my mother (who turned 60 in April), I was looking through it and discovered the following.

Would if applied for be refused a motor vehicle driving licence under the Road Traffic Act 1988, due to physical fitness i.e. epilepsy, severe mental health - excludes drug and alcohol abuse

• a medical assessment may be required
• a letter from the DVLA indicating refusal for a minimum period of 12 months
• a letter from a specialist indicating a driving licence would be refused
• receipt of Disabled Living Allowance at high rate for care (severe mental health)
• independent medical advice

Now, that describes me precisely (hope you don't mind if I don't say why). This has been the case since I was seventeen years old, so for twelve years. I reckon I spend about £300 on bus travel a year, so I may have lost around £3,600 in all that time, which would have made a big dent in my tuition fees. I was stunned when I first saw it, considering how much publicity goes into OAPs' bus passes just how little goes into people in other eligability categories. I doubt there's any hope of claiming it back, but I think people ought to know about it.

PDF with full Herts County Council criteria

 

[transportphoto]

I've got an ENCTS pass and have held one since I was 12/13. It wasn't widely advertised but I was printing off the form for someone else when I realised that I'd be entitled to one! Pretty much the same situation as you!

I can't value how much travelling I've done with it.

TP

 

[moogal]

An epileptic friend recently commented how hard it was to find out that he was entitled to free bus travel like this.

One issue he does run into is, as a perfectly normal-looking chap, he gets lots of suspicious looks and hostile questioning from bus drivers when he uses it, as he doesn't "look" disabled.

 

[LE Greys]

Do Epilepsy Aware put it into their literature? I'll check on their website and find out.

<EDIT> I now discover they're called Epilepsy Action and this is the webpage, although I'm not sure whether this is the only way they publicise it.

http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/benefits/england#free-bus-fares

 

[bb21]

One issue he does run into is, as a perfectly normal-looking chap, he gets lots of suspicious looks and hostile questioning from bus drivers when he uses it, as he doesn't "look" disabled.

Doesn't his card have his photo on it?

 

[Lewisham2221]

Now, that describes me precisely (hope you don't mind if I don't say why). This has been the case since I was seventeen years old, so for twelve years. I reckon I spend about £300 on bus travel a year, so I may have lost around £3,600 in all that time, which would have made a big dent in my tuition fees.

Unless you would have purchased a car, taxed, insured, fuelled and maintained it for 12 years, not to mention taken driving lessons and driving tests, all for less than £3,600, you haven't "lost" anything, surely?

 

[LE Greys]

Unless you would have purchased a car, taxed, insured, fuelled and maintained it for 12 years, not to mention taken driving lessons and driving tests, all for less than £3,600, you haven't "lost" anything, surely?

I've spent about £300 on bus travel every year that I would have got for free were it not for poor publicity. This is based on two return tickets to Stevenage every week (about average) or the equivalent cost of an annual student pass in Aberdeen (£350 last year). Had I known this was available, I would not have had to spend all this money.

 

[moogal]

Doesn't his card have his photo on it?

Yes.

Doesn't seem to help though. It still seems common to have that idea that someone's not disabled unless they're in a wheelchair.

 

[vicbury]

An epileptic friend recently commented how hard it was to find out that he was entitled to free bus travel like this.

One issue he does run into is, as a perfectly normal-looking chap, he gets lots of suspicious looks and hostile questioning from bus drivers when he uses it, as he doesn't "look" disabled.

He's not the only one.

Woman with epilepsy ordered off bus in row over disability card

Although I was informed by a manager that there was more to this story than let on.

 

[Ivo]

I started looking eve before I got a formal diagnosis because I knew my mother's friend had one for her daughter and her case is similar (if more severe) than mine. If it hadn't been for her though, I don't think I would have even known to apply.

The OAP pass gets all the publicity - good and bad - so the orange passes often get ignored.

I'm yet to be questioned in four years - although I have had a small number of scenarios of apparently miserable drivers insisting on checking every pass intently. (Even those for people in wheelchairs or look 80+.)

He's not the only one.

Woman with epilepsy ordered off bus in row over disability card

Although I was informed by a manager that there was more to this story than let on.

I've heard this line as well.

 

[LE Greys]

Incidentally, I've now contacted the student support co-ordinator at my old university. She had never heard of this, and is now passing on the information.

 

[Deerfold]

I've spent about £300 on bus travel every year that I would have got for free were it not for poor publicity. This is based on two return tickets to Stevenage every week (about average) or the equivalent cost of an annual student pass in Aberdeen (£350 last year). Had I known this was available, I would not have had to spend all this money.

ENCTS has not been around for 12 years so it'd depend on what Herts had before that.

An ENCTS card won't do you much good in Aberdeen, either.

 

[LE Greys]

ENCTS has not been around for 12 years so it'd depend on what Herts had before that.

An ENCTS card won't do you much good in Aberdeen, either.

There's a similar scheme for Scotland (which is the information I've passed on, see the above post). I'm not sure how long this has been around, I'll just check.

<EDIT> The DfT website suggests the Transport Act, 2000, although I'm not sure when it was implimented.

 

[quarella]

Yes.

Doesn't seem to help though. It still seems common to have that idea that someone's not disabled unless they're in a wheelchair.

Which may explain why some such as the OP are not aware of their entitlement. It took me a few weeks with a group with learning disabilities to work whether some were staff or service users. At what point is someone meant to ask if you are disabled just in case you may have a hidden disability?

 

[34D]

An epileptic friend recently commented how hard it was to find out that he was entitled to free bus travel like this.

One issue he does run into is, as a perfectly normal-looking chap, he gets lots of suspicious looks and hostile questioning from bus drivers when he uses it, as he doesn't "look" disabled.

Hi. Could you let me know (either by posting here, or by PM) which operator this is. A contact of mine offers disability awareness training for the bus/coach industry, and i'll suggest he gets in touch.

Please spread the word about the disabled ENCTS pass to everyone who may be eligible.