A COUPLE is in a battle with transport authorities over the availability of disability bus passes.

Janice Greenwood suffers with multiple sclerosis (MS) which serious impacts her movement and has left her in a wheelchair but her husband John says applying for a travel pass has been "needlessly complicated".

She is 60 years old and does not automatically qualify for a bus pass.

Mr Greenwood, 73, argues that the number of documents and forms involved in an application could stop disabled people from attempting to get the pass they are entitled to.

His wife has already been given a blue parking badge by Bolton Council after proving she is unable to walk for 50m without aid.

Bus passes are handed out by a different authority - Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) - but are offered to anyone who struggles to walk 100m without help.

Mr Greenwood says the obvious correlation between the two standards should mean he can present his wife's parking pass as proof, although TfGM say that is not the case.

"I don't see why I should be sending all this information when I could just be sending a blue badge," he said.

"In fact, for a lot of disabled people, making things more difficult stops them from doing it.

"If there's a benefit out there which you are entitled to have it should be as easy to get help with as possible."

Following, Mr Greenwood's complaints, TfGM says "internal discussions" are in place over accepting blue badges, a system which is already in place in other parts of the country.

The organisation says its current system asks for evidence from applicants to "ensure the relevant criteria is met, to prevent fraudulent applications and to ensure best use of public funds."

Sean Dyball, TfGM’s head of customer engagement said the transport authority has a team on hand to help people who need support with their services.

“We try to make the application process for all passes as easy as possible and are able to provide step-by-step support for those who may need it," he said.

“We follow national guidelines when assessing and processing applications for concessionary passes and are unable to authorise passes in cases where all relevant information is not submitted.

“We are always looking at ways to improve what we do and while we don’t currently accept Blue Badges as a form of evidence it is something that we are currently reviewing.”

TfGM operate a customer contact centre to help people with advice. For more information on passes, visit: tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/passes-for-disabled-people.