A WHEELCHAIR user in Middlewich has spoken out about what it’s like to be disabled in a town with no train station.


Vicky Perez, 37, from Ventnor Close in Middlewich, has to rely on a wheelchair get around due to a weakness of muscles and a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.


Vicky has joined the fight to get Middlewich Rail Station reopened and told the Guardian what it would mean for her and other adults in Middlewich who cannot drive to be able to hop on a train in the town.


“If we had a train station it would be brilliant because it would mean we can go out to anywhere,” Vicky said.


“It would give me more independence and other disabled people and even elderly people too. If we wanted to go to Liverpool for the day or somewhere like that we could just get on the train.


“It should be the public that are thought about but we’re not. They don’t think of disabled people like me and elderly people or anybody else that can’t drive.


“There’s no excuse, the train station is there. All it needs is a ticket machine and a few lights and a train going on the track.”


The Guardian also reported in January that Vicky was often being left behind at bus stops due to parents with pushchairs taking up the space on buses set aside for wheelchair users.


The problem is still occurring and the Middlewich resident said she now cannot rely on buses to take her out of the town.


“To me it would be brilliant because I can’t drive so public transport is my life.

"I’m always wanting to go to Manchester and Poynton and Bradford to visit friends and go shopping and I do but it takes so long. I often have to rely on people to give me lifts to Crewe or Sandbach train stations because I can’t rely on the buses.


“My friends drop me off or my mum comes all the way from Nantwich to come and pick me up. It’s defeating the object of your independence and it gets you down.


“It’s very sad when you have got the railway line there but it just isn’t being used.”


To join the campaign to reopen the Middlewich Rail Station, ‘like’ the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign group on Facebook.