A PENSIONER who was badly injured in a collision with a mobility scooter has met the MP who is fighting for her cause in Parliament.

York MP Hugh Bayley told Margaret Maclagen, 89, about the evidence he has submitted to the parliamentary Transport Select Committee inquiry into the safety of the vehicles, which are widely used by people with mobility problems.

Mrs Maclagen called for changes in the law after she needed stitches to a head wound and weeks of treatment for a lacerated leg when she was knocked down by a mobility scooter near her home in Front Street, Acomb, outside Morrison’s car park, in 2008.

“The number of accidents involving mobility scooters needs to be recorded as there is a big increase in the number of these vehicles on our streets,” said Mr Bayley. “I hope there will be further consultation on the safety of mobility scooters and this can take place soon.

“It is important that the Government will act quickly to reduce the number of accidents involving mobility scooters to prevent more people, like Mrs Maclagan sustaining serious injuries. “The Minister says he will consult the public about the things I am proposing. This needs to happen quickly. Change is long overdue.”

The MP told the committee all scooter users ought to be insured.

Currently 72 per cent of users are covered, but the one that hit Mrs Maclagen was not, as she discovered when she tried to get compensation.

Mr Bayley is also pressing for the Government to keep statistics on accidents involving mobility scooters.

He understands that one person is killed and 40 seriously injured every year by mobility scooters, which are exempt from the Road Traffic Act, and he wants the Government to consult on issues including training, design, safety standards and a more comprehensive registration scheme.

One of the issues that is under examination is whether scooter drivers should be required to take some kind of formal training before going out on to the streets.

Serious incidents involving the vehicles have included a 90-year-old woman who was killed after being hit by a scooter on the Isle of Wight and a toddler who was dragged under the wheels of one in Doncaster.