A disabled woman who needs regular trips to hospital has been left relying on specially-adapted taxis coming from Bolton and Preston to take her the short trip to Blackpool's hospital.
Belle Garner, from North Carolina but who now lives in Blackpool, has told of her challenges getting around after her wheelchair adapted van broke down.
She now needs many medical appointments but was thrown on the mercy of taxis to get to the hospital and found the lack of wheelchair-friendly taxis was shocking.
She told The Other Side of Blackpool podcast: "It's a shocking experience when you move into Blackpool. You're not quite up with the rest of the country.
"It is very shocking. Lack of drop kerbs, disabled taxis and more.
"I can't even get in my van right now.
"They can't provide wheelchair taxis, they have to bring them in from Preston or elsewhere.
"Motability have to pay it, they are paying more than £100 each time for a wheelchair taxi to come in."
Her husband Phil said: "None of the vehicles which can support Belle are available in the Blackpool area at present.
"You don't have wheelchair taxis in Blackpool because Blackpool Council doesn't make them provide them.
"We're very keen to protect the current Motability programme. To have these wheelchair-adapted taxis means we would have"
Gillian Oliver, host of the podcast said following the show: "The then chief exec of Blackpool Vic hospital wrote to Bell and said she was in touch with the council to ask them to act.
"Empowerment were asked to lead a resident study for transit.
Chief exec of Empowerment Mike Crowther: "We have a new project called Disability Voices which starts in September this year.
"It will work with a group of people who are disabled in Blackpool and it will do mystery shopping as well to show the changes needed.
"Blackpool is a better town because it has people with disabilities in it, but if it has barriers stopping people reaching their full potential then it is letting them down."
The issue of the lack of wheelchair-accessible taxis was raised in summer 2022, as The Gazette reported.
John Blackledge, director of community and environment services at Blackpool council, said: "I haven't heard about this particular case, but I am pleased to be made aware of it.
"This isn't new and it's been building up over a period of time.
"We do need to do some work in this area. We do get a lot of people saying 'it's difficult to get a taxi', it's important to us to now have this work done.
"We are all really concerned, it seems to have over a period of time get progressively worse. We need to understand the deteriorations.
"There's a lot of taxi drivers with medical exemptions which means they then don't offer wheelchair assistance. It's not just a problem in Blackpool, it's a problem elsewhere too.
"We are now working with Wyre council too as we want to see how we can improve the situation.
"It's a real situation where people go out and about in the town centre and then finds themselves stranded. We, and the trade, need to work together."
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