Northern trains confirm travel changes for mobility scooter users

Northern trains has confirmed a change in its travel rules for mobility scooter users.

Passengers with mobility scooters will now be able to travel on all of the different types of trains in Northern’s fleet with a free permit after the train operator updated its rules to allow smaller mobility scooters on Class 158 trains.

Those who already have mobility scooter permits with Northern are being contacted and told they can travel on Class 158 trains if their scooters meet the size requirements.

They will be provided with a new permit which states the model can be used to safely board these trains and will not become stuck on board. There is no change to the rules that allow mobility scooters on all of the other types of trains in the operator’s fleet.

Alex Hornby, Customer and Commercial Director at Northern, said: “We are determined to create an accessible railway for everyone and continue to make further improvements for our customers across Northern.

“With more people using smaller scooters, we decided it was time to review the rules and find a new way forward to enable more passengers with mobility scooters to safely board more services. I would like to thank Janet Kidd, Tony Jennings and Sue Buckingham, as well as Shopmobility Leeds for their support in making this happen.

“We’re committed to giving everyone the confidence to travel by train and have a conductor on board every service to provide assistance. We will continue to create further improvements and it is really pleasing to see satisfaction levels amongst customers with accessibility needs continue to increase.”

When Northern’s policy was introduced in 2020, the vast majority of scooters were too large to turn in the narrow vestibules of the Class 158s and there were concerns they could become stuck. But with a growing number of customers now travelling on smaller, lighter models, Northern agreed to review this policy.

After consulting passengers and staff, conducting further testing with various models and reassessing more than 150 stations, the operator has decided to update the rules and allow passengers with suitable mobility scooters to board Class 158 trains.

More than 3,000 passengers, using around 330 types of mobility scooters, have already obtained a free permits from Northern.

It comes as Northern is planning to make the largest ever investment in its fleet, by purchasing up to 450 trains in three phases. That will include around 130 trains in the first phase. The publicly-owned operator is aiming to award the contracts by early 2027 and have the first trains delivered in 2030.