Annual Report 2003-2004

E: Our Members

This information about our Members, Main Committee Observers and Secretariat was correct as at 31 March 2004.

Chair:
Jane Wilmot (until June 2003)
Neil Betteridge (from July 2003)

Members:
Pravinkant Amin (from July 2003)
Sian Baldwin
Peter Barker
Ann Bates
Mike Burton (resigned May 2003)
Josephine Clairmont (from July 2003)
Lekh Dindayal
Jean Dunlop
David Finnegan
Julie Giles (from July 2003)
Roy Hayter
Roger Hewitt (from July 2003)
Grahame Lawson
Jenny Meadows
Tom Pey
David Pugh
Keith Richards
Janet Seymour-Kirk (until June 2003)
Laura Smales (from July 2003)
Kate Smyth (from July 2003)
Carol Thomas
Richard West

Observers:
Alan Preston - Department for Regional Development (Northern Ireland)
Ann Frye - Department for Transport, Mobility and Inclusion Unit
Sue Sharp - Department for Transport, Mobility and Inclusion Unit
Sue Hammond - Department for Work and Pensions
Will Bee - Disability Rights Commission
Greg Dempster - Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland
Paul Everall - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
David Petherick - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Ann Lyon - Scottish Executive
Mike Spearing - Welsh Assembly Government

Secretariat:
Tim Pope, Secretary (to June 2003)
Andy Kirby, Secretary (from September 2003)
Sandra Duncan
Ffion Grant
Gary Kemp
Harriet Samuels
Verona Wiltshire

Neil Betteridge - Chairman
Neil is Director of Public Affairs at Arthritis Care and is Vice Chair of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) the umbrella body for the arthritis community in the UK. He is also Vice President of European League against Rheumatism (EULAR). Neil previously worked at RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation).

Pravinkant Amin
Pravin is the Special Projects Manager in the Engineering and Transportation Department at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and is a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He is the President of the National Congress of Gujarati Organisations and Trustee of ASHRAM (Lambeth Asian Elderly Centre). This is his first term as a Member of DPTAC.

Ann Bates
Ann is a member of the Rail Passengers Committee working closely with train companies and the Strategic Rail Authority. She is also a non-executive member of a National Health Trust and has professional involvement with both the National Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Further and Higher Education and the Trade Union Disability Alliance. A member since 2002, Ann is a wheelchair user who has arthritis.

Sian Baldwin
Sian has worked in the access field for a number of years at both local and national level and is the former Access Policy Officer for the Built Environment and Transport at RADAR. She is currently a Senior Transport Consultant at the JMU Access Partnership. She has been a DPTAC Member since 2002.

Peter Barker, OBE
Peter has been a DPTAC Member since 1992, and is currently Chair of DPTAC's Built Environment Group. He is Professor of Inclusive Environments at the University of Reading and was formerly head of the JMU Access Partnership. Peter, who is blind, is also Chairman of the Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People, and is a trustee of RADAR, TRIPSCOPE and Living Streets. He has spent many years in industry, including 20 years in the construction sector, before deteriorating eyesight led to his early retirement.

Josephine Clairmont
Josephine is a town councillor, and former mayor of Market Rasen. She is a Trustee of RADAR and the Lincolnshire Rural Housing Association. She has held various posts with the Disabled Drivers Motor Club since 1989, and is a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Josephine is a wheelchair user, and this is her first term as a Member of DPTAC.

Lekh (Vidur) Dindayal
Vidur is an architect who has worked on access design for over 30 years. Appointed to DPTAC in 2002, he is a member of the Disability Appeals Tribunal, and former member of the London Regional Passenger Committee and London Transport Users' Committee.

Jean Dunlop
Jean has been a Member of DPTAC since 1997. Jean is the Vice-Chair of the Scottish Accessible Information Forum and Chairperson of FABB Scotland (facilitating access breaking barriers). She is a wheelchair user, and also a disability equality trainer.

David Finnegan
David has spent fifteen years working in the access field with Merseytravel Passenger Transport Executive with responsibility for designing inclusive infrastructure and implementing the DDA throughout the organisation. He has undertaken other disability work through WIRED (Wirral Information Resource Equality and Disability), the Spinal Injuries Association and is also a member of the Access Association. David has an interest in environmental issues and is an inventor. He is a wheelchair user and has been a DPTAC Member since 2002.

Julie Giles
Julie is Managing Director of Westlands Associates Limited, and is also a freelance transport advisor. She is the former Operations Director of West Midlands Travel, where she gained extensive first hand experience of the transportation issues facing disabled passengers. She is Chair of Governors for Penn Hall Special School. In a voluntary capacity she has a wide experience of transporting and supporting disabled students at various events, this includes her 13 year old son who has Cerebral Palsy. This is her first term as a Member of DPTAC.

Roy Hayter
Roy is the former director of Special Projects at Airbus Industries of North America. He is registered blind and has MS. He is Chairman of Visual Impairment Ayrshire, a voluntary action group, and a member of the Cross Party Group for Visual Impairment at the Scottish Parliament. Roy is also a member of the South Ayrshire Access Panel. He is a Scottish Executive nominee and has been a Member since 2002.

Roger Hewitt
Roger is Opportunities for Volunteering Co-ordinator for the United Kingdom Council on Deafness, Treasurer and Trustee of the Deaf Broadcasting Council and a committee member of the Telecommunications Action Group and the Royal Shakespeare Access Advisory Group. He is himself deaf and is a new member. Roger is also a trainer, researcher and consultant for Deaf Issue.

Grahame Lawson
A Member since 1996, Grahame has been involved in transportation for over 30 years and has had a particular interest in disability issues for 15 years. He undertook a lead role in the recent review by DPTAC of the Blue Badge Scheme. Grahame is Head of Planning and Transportation with North Lanarkshire Council and is an adviser to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on disability matters.

Jenny Meadows
First appointed to DPTAC in 1995, Jenny is the Executive Director of the Community Transport Association and has a long professional and voluntary involvement in community and voluntary transport services. Initially qualified in social work residential childcare, she began her career in the transport sector at Readibus, the first door to door, many to many dial a ride in the UK, which pioneered the development of this sector.

Tom Pey
Tom is Director of Policy for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, a Trustee of the Royal London Society for the Blind, and sits on the Pets Passport Advisory Committee. He is currently Chair of the Taxi and Private Hire Working Group. Tom is blind, and was appointed to the Committee in 2002.

David Pugh
David was appointed to the Committee in 2002. A former bus driver, he was a regional industrial organiser for the Transport & General Workers Union specialising in passenger transport. He is a lay member of the Employment Tribunal Service and a member of the Disability Rights Commission Mental Health Action Group. David is the Convenor of the Mental Health and Transport Group, a trustee of the Manic Depression Fellowship and a member of MIND. David was the first DPTAC member appointed with mental health interests.

Keith Richards
Keith is Head of Consumer Affairs at ABTA with special responsibility for access issues. Appointed in 2002, he was a member of the Department for Transport's Air Access group responsible for producing the Code of Practice - Access to Air Travel for Disabled People. Keith is also a member of the European Civil Aviation Conference Facilitation Working Group on People with Reduced Mobility.

Laura Smales
This is Laura's first term as a Member of DPTAC. She is the "Involving Young People" Youth Worker at Surrey Council and has a keen interest in transport issues for young people. She spent time on secondment to the DPTAC Secretariat as part of the Workable scheme. She is a new member and at 26 she is the youngest member of DPTAC. Laura campaigns to raise awareness of hidden disabilities, of which she has personal experience.

Kate Smyth
Kate, a new Member, is a freelance regeneration, economic development, housing and disability advisor. She works with a wide range of clients including: the North West Regional Assembly (NWRA), Rochdale MBC, Warrington Disability Partnership, Learning and Skills Council Lancashire, Cumbria Local Education Authority and the North West Training and Development Team - an organisation that works with people with learning disabilities. She wrote the report, 'Committed to Inclusion, Accepting the Challenge, the North West and Disability' for the NWRA in 2000 and is currently developing a Disability Strategy for Rochdale MBC and a Housing and Support Needs Strategy for Young Physically Disabled People. She is a board member of Burnley and Padiham Community Housing and is a wheelchair user.

Carol Thomas
Carol has been involved in the access field for many years, initially working for Disability Wales, and more recently as part of JMU Access Partnership. She has been a Member since 1999, and has chaired the Education and Training Working Group for the last year. Carol is also a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, and sits on the management panel of the National Register of Access Consultants. She provides the secretariat for the Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People. Carol also serves on the Access Committee for Wales and the Access Association for Wales.

Richard West
Richard is a member of the Greater London Association of Disabled People (GLAD) and works with CHANGE where he deals with transport issues. Richard has a particular interest in making transport information more accessible for people with learning disabilities and has worked with Transport for London in that area. Richard has been a Member since 1999 and is the first member of the Committee with a learning disability. Richard is also deaf.

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