The consultation invites views on whether transport services should be subject to anti-discrimination legislation, and whether the current exemptions in Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act should be lifted.

It proposes to:

• make it unlawful to provide a lower standard of service to disabled people and refuse to provide services on the ground of disability;
• require operators to review working practices, policies and procedures that make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to use transport services.

Transport Minister David Jamieson said:

"This consultation is another step in delivering the government's commitment to providing a better quality of life for disabled people.

"It is unacceptable that transport operators can still lawfully deny a person access to a vehicle for no other reason than that person is disabled.

"Whilst this sort of discrimination is becoming rarer, best practice is not universal. Removing the exemption will give disabled people the right to challenge transport operators to improve their services."

The consultation runs from 29 November 2002 to 28 February 2003.