A MOBILITY scooter user has launched a petition after a train firm stopped him taking it on board —leaving him with a three-hour journey to hospital.

Paul Jeffrey, 43, wants First Great Western to allow mobility scooters on its trains following his ordeal last week.

The Herald reported how Mr Jeffrey, of Laburnum Grove, Didcot, went on a six-hour round trip to the Churchill Hospital, Oxford for a check-up after being turned away from the Didcot Parkway train to the city. The firm said scooters blocked doors and did not fit in carriages.

But Mr Jeffrey said he has previously travelled as far as Feltham, Middlesex, without the issue being raised. He said: “Everywhere I have gone people have recognised me from the Herald and signed straight away. People think it is disgraceful what happened to me.

“I’m not doing this just for me — there are a lot of mobility scooter users now, and it is unfair on all of us.

“I want to speak out for everyone who is disabled.

“I have already got 12 pages of signatures, just through going round Didcot and asking people to sign.”

He said: “I have been making the same journey for six years and I have never had a problem.”

Mr Jeffrey, who suffers from diabetes, asthma, and heart problems, took the petition to Didcot’s Market Place and Orchard Centre — and the town’s station.

Amongst those who signed was Julie Horton, manager of Didcot’s Helen and Douglas House charity shop, who said: “All people should be able to gain access to all means of transport. The problem is they are all telling us not to use our cars and use public transport and then we hear of people being turned away.”

Didcot’s MP Ed Vaizey has contacted the managing director of First Great Western, asking him to look into Mr Jeffrey’s complaint.

First Great Western spokesman Dan Panes said: “We are really sorry we are not able to carry mobility scooters. We would love to be able to, but we cannot carry them at the expense of safety of other passengers.”

The train company only allows fold-down mobility scooters on its trains.

Some operators allow them on board if users buy a pass, but Mr Panes said the rules varied because of different designs of carriages.

By Friday, Mr Jeffrey, who recently bought a £48 disabled railway pass, had collected 477 signatures.