FURY: Disabled pensioner with no legs 'disgusted' at taxi refusals on Saturday nights

Angry Doreen Palfreyman, aged 73, of Dunvegan Avenue, Danesmoor, says that all her wheelchair-bound husband John wants to do is play bingo on a Saturday night at North Wingfield Working Mens Club on Chesterfield Road.

John, also aged 73, has no legs after problems with his blood flow, which caused him to get gangrene. He has also suffered a stroke and a heart attack.

“John stays in all day and all night and I just want to be able to take him out,” Doreen said.

“I have telephoned taxi firms in Chesterfield and Alfreton but I cannot get anybody to do it.

“He is disgusted. He just wants to go out and have a game of bingo.

“I am furious.”

Former miner John used to visit Bestwood Working Mens Club before it closed at Christmas.

John and Doreen then started going to the working mens club at North Wingfield in a friend’s mini bus but that is no longer possible.

Doreen says that when she telephones the taxi services and explains her husband’s situation, the firms say they don’t do wheelchair access on Saturday nights.

She says that she has called more than 10 firms in the area but has now exhausted all options.

“When I ask ‘can I book a taxi please’ they say ‘yes when do you want one for’ but then they say ‘oh no we don’t do it’,” Doreen said.

“We only want to go two miles.

“John used to be able to go to Bestwood club on his scooter - we were devastated when it closed.

“He cannot get in a car because he has got to be in a wheelchair.”

John said: “It is not fair.

“I like to play bingo and listen to the artists.”