Assisted Travel

Complete the Assisted Travel Form, and one of our assisted travel team will process your request and be in touch should confirmation of any details be required.

Webforms need to be submitted at least 6 hours prior to you commencing your journey within our contact centre opening times (6am-11pm everyday, except Christmas Day and Boxing Day).

Call our Assisted Travel Team on 0800 107 2149

Customers who are deaf or hard of hearing can use the Text Relay service by adding the prefix 18001 in front of the number. A relay assistant will translate your call to text with the Next Generation Text service. To find out more about this service, visit ngts.org.uk

Our lines are open 06:00 to 23:00 daily, where our customer service staff will be happy to help you make your booking. Check out our Making Rail Accessible guides below for more details.

Folded or dismantled scooters can be taken on all our train services. You can request assistance from staff to help lift the folded or dismantled scooter on and off the train and store it safely in one of the luggage stacks on board, but you or your companion will need to fold or dismantle it before boarding. If you want to ride your scooter on and off the train, and then transfer to a seat, you’ll need a scooter card.

We operate a scooter card system to ensure that the mobility scooters which are carried on our trains are able to board and alight safely. The requirements which we set have been determined through the completion of risk assessments on our trains, and consider not only the space on the train, but also the space which is needed to board and alight and the angle of the ramp between the platform and the train. This approach is for your safety, and for the safety of our staff and other customers.

TransPennine Express have introduced three brand new fleets of intercity trains across our network, fully compliant with the latest accessibility regulations, and providing more seats, increased luggage capacity and new on-board facilities including at seat power sockets, USB charging and free Wi-Fi with media servers. We’re really excited to deliver this £500 Million investment in our services to provide an upgraded experience for our customers.

As we approach the transition period when these new trains will enter into service, we will not be issuing annual Scooter Cards on the affected routes, including:

• Services between Liverpool and Scarborough, and between Manchester Airport and Middlesbrough, and;
• Services between Manchester and Scotland

Customers wishing to travel with a mobility scooter on these routes have the following options:

1. You or your companion should fold or dismantle your mobility scooter before you board, and store is safely in one of the luggage stacks on the train. Staff assistance is available to lift and store your mobility scooter
2. Download a Scooter Card Application Form (Word) or (PDF) and return it to us by email at TPE.ScooterCards@FirstGroup.com or post it to us at the address on the form.
   Providing your mobility scooter satisfies the requirements determined for the stations where you wish to travel, which include being able to safely climb the ramp between the platform and the train, we will then issue a temporary permit for you to travel with your assembled scooter. Please be aware, that for the majority of stations, a climbing angle of at least 9 degrees is needed, but at some stations, it can be steeper.

Travelling to Hull or Cleethorpes, or on our local services between Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds?

If your journey is on one of the routes that will continue to be operated by our Class 185 fleets, our policy is unchanged, and we can issue an annual permit. To apply, please download a Scooter Card Application Form and return it to us by email at TPE.ScooterCards@FirstGroup.com or post it to us at the address on the form.

Access to trains for wheelchair users is assessed at the time when the train is designed and built or refurbished and is regulated through standards set by the Department for Transport. These standards are RVAR and PRM-TSI.

These standards do not set specifications for the carriage of mobility scooters, and so each train operator determines its ability to accommodate mobility scooters on its trains by undertaking a risk assessment.

Our risk assessment has found that mobility scooters have very different characteristics to wheelchairs, and we use our scooter card approach to assess the suitability of a scooter to board our train before travel.

Turning: Where a wheelchair has two large drive wheels, and smaller casters, allowing it to pivot within its own length, mobility scooters have three of four wheels, all the same size resulting in a turning radius, making it less maneuverable.

Control: Electric wheelchairs are controlled by a joystick, where mobility scooters have a tiller or handlebars with accelerator and braking levers. For some, these can be harder to control.

Ramps: Mobility scooters generally have a higher centre of gravity than electric wheelchairs, and are less stable than wheelchairs, so they have a higher risk of tipping. Many Class 2 mobility scooters also have a recommended ramp climbing angle of between 6 and 8 degrees, where wheelchairs are comfortable climbing steeper ramps.

Purpose: Most electric wheelchairs are designed for a mixture of indoor and outdoor use, where most scooters are designed to be used outdoors only, making them less suitable for being transported inside a vehicle, such as a train or bus.

Our scooter card approach allows checks to be carried out in advance of travel to assess whether or not it is safe for you to ride your scooter on and off the train. It is not possible to carry out these checks in the operational environment of the station as when we carry out our checks, we consider all of the stations where you may board and alight. An assessment of one station would not necessarily guarantee being able to board and alight safely at another. We also need to consider the time involved in carrying out an assessment, which could lead to a significant delay to train services to and from the station.

We would encourage customers who cannot fold or dismantle their scooter to make use of our passenger assistance service. Our teams can help with luggage and provide a station wheelchair or buggy to assist you through the station and onto the train. This service is available at all staffed stations. You could team this up with a rented scooter from one of the many Shopmobility points across the UK when you get to where you’re going.

If this isn’t suitable, you could consider travelling with a companion who can assist with folding or dismantling your scooter so that you can take it with you. The Disabled Persons Railcard entitles both the bearer and their companion to a 50% discount on travel, meaning they can travel with you for less.