South & West Wales - De a Gorllewin Cymru

First gets on board with National Falls Awareness Day

IN a bid to mark National Falls Awareness Day (23 June), an awareness initiative organised by Help the Aged/Age Concern to highlight the concerns that older people have about falling, First Cymru is working closely with Carmarthenshire County Council's falls awareness team to highlight the steps older people can take to ensure that they stay safe when they are out and about on the bus.

The focus of this year's National Falls Awareness Day is falls on buses.

Keen to work with older people to allay their fears, First is supporting the awareness day and has produced a special safe journey card for its older customers to use. Designed to be carried in travel passes, the card can be used to alert bus drivers to any special needs a customer may have, for instance a hearing or speech problem. A number of the cards, along with some special 'Get on Board' travel wallets, designed by the charity, are being given away this week as part of the awareness raising activities.

Specifically limited edition wallets and safe journey cards will be distributed at a special falls awareness event being held in Llanelli on Wednesday 24 June. The event has been organised by Carmarthenshire County Council and around 700 people over the age of 75 have been invited to attend.

Safe Journey Card inserts are also available to download from the FirstGroup website, www.firstgroup.com/safejourney.

Tony McNiff, Managing Director of First Cymru, says: "As a company we take the health and safety of our customers very seriously. While the bus remains one of the safest forms of transport around, we recognise some older people may have a fear of falling, and we are keen to support them. We hope our older passengers will follow the guidance we have outlined in the Get on Board information booklet and on the Safe Journey website " ringing the bell and staying seated until the bus comes to a stop, for instance.

"I hope that as a result of this campaign even more older people are able to feel confident using the bus, making full use of the concessionary pass scheme which was set up by the Government to help them remain active and independent well into old age."

In general the advice for older people using the bus is:
· Use the handrails provided when you are stepping on and off the bus. If you're having difficulty, ask the driver to lower the floor
· Use the priority seats at the front of the bus " if they are occupied by a younger person, have the confidence to ask them to move
· Don't feel as though you have the rush. You can ask the driver to wait until you are seated before moving off, but try and ensure you take the first available seat
· Try not to travel with lots of bags as these will prevent you from holding the handrails. A shopping trolley may be a safer option.
· When you want to get off, ring the bell and stay seated until the bus stops. If you need to, when you get on, ask the driver to give you extra time to leave the bus safely.

For more information about National Falls Awareness Day see: www.helptheaged.org.uk. To find out more about First, or to download the Safe Journey Card, log onto www.firstgroup.com/safejourney.