Selaine Saxby, Member of Parliament for North Devon, welcomed Ella Wakley and her parents, Darren and Janet Wakley, to Westminster to meet Department for Transport Minister Anthony Browne on e-scooter legislation for blue badge holders.
Ella met with her local MP during Easter recess recently to highlight her campaign and share testimonies of other people who encounter similar access barriers when attempting to use their e-scooters as mobility aids.
From the meeting with the Minister, there is an understanding that classifying e-scooters as a mobility aid device would require legislative changes to the Road Traffic Act, and any changes to the law would require a significant consultative process.
This particular issue falls within a cross departmental remit, and to understand its context and its implications, the Department for Transport will need to liaise with the Department for Health, as the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating the UK medical devices market. As this is a unique case, the Department for Transport has taken this back for further investigation and Selaine is hopeful that changes can be made for blue badge holders.
Ella is due to meet with Mims Davies, Minister of State for Disabled People, Health, and Work soon to share her concerns about the impact this is having on her college and work.
Local MP, Selaine Saxby said:
“It was lovely to meet with Ella Wakley and her parents again and bring their fight to Westminster. I wholeheartedly support her call to enable specially modified e-scooters to be classed as a mobility aid device for those with Blue Badges and I will be raising Ella's petition in the House of Commons very soon.
“I would like to thank Anthony Browne MP, Transport Minister for agreeing to meet with Ella and for his engagement on this issue. The next steps involve exploring how we can go about classifying e-scooters as mobility devices for blue badge holders and improve accessibility so that hard working individuals like Ella can continue to live their life without facing additional barriers.”
