Disabled people are running into problems travelling from Menston Station, it has been claimed.

Residents say passengers in wheelchairs face difficulties going to Leeds or Bradford as access to the north-bound platform is via a high-rise bridge from the main station.

Pat Reid, of Cleasby Road, said: "My concern is for people who are disabled or encumbered. The bridge is very high so it's quite out of the question for a person in a wheelchair or a mother with a baby to get across."

The north-bound platform can be accessed without going through the station entrance but it involves a circuitous route along a public footpath between a housing estate and there are no parking facilities.

Mrs Reid said: "At the station side there are ample parking facilities, including eight spaces reserved for disabled passengers.

"That is all very well if a disabled person parks there and wants to go to Ilkley but if they want to go to Leeds or Bradford they have a problem."

She is now calling for a barrow foot crossing to be placed across the track to allow passengers to access the station.

She said: "There was a foot crossing there when I first came to Menston in the seventies. People are intelligent. They would just need a sign saying that you cross at your own risk.

"It is a very straight line and you can see easily up and down the line for quite a distance."

Ilkley Parish Councillor Audrey Brand, who lives in the village, has written to Northern Spirit to see if the foot crossing can be reinstated.

A spokesman for Northern Spirit said: "We have got a ramp at the station and staff will assist anyone with a disability as long as they phone our hotline and say that they are intending to travel.

"A number of barrow crossings have been removed by Railtrack as a safety measure but we will be talking to the company to see if there is anything that can be done to improve access at the station."

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