Aston Villa and Dunn-line (Flights) have made a disabled accessible coach a permanent part of their club travel fleet for this season. In conjunction with the club, Dunn-line are arranging for a coach to be available for disabled fans travelling to away fixtures.

PICTURE : Thomas Sorensen and Mark Delaney join Pauline and Roger Commander (far left), Mark Bishop (centre) and Yvonne and Tim Craythorne (far right) from AViDS.


Following on from a successful three match trial, the Aston Villa Disabled Supporters Association (AViDS) are delighted that the coach is now a regularly available service.

Since AViDS' formation, one of their primary fundraising goals was to provide accessible, away day transport for their members. With Aston Villa's support this has now come to fruition and AViDS are able to channel their fundraising efforts into other important areas.

AViDS Secretary, Roger Commander said:

"We were very pleased that Aston Villa decided to trial the accessible coach in the first place, now it has proved a success we are over the moon that the club have taken it on as a permanent service. I would like to thank all those involved at Aston Villa for making this happen.

We can now focus our existing funds and additional fundraising activities on projects such as providing an ability suite for disabled fans, generating sponsorship for local disabled fans to attend matches and working hand in glove with Aston Villa's community schemes to sponsor equipment for local schools."

AVFC Operations Director, Steve Stride added:

"As a club we continue to strive to provide the best possible service to all sections of our supporters. The addition of the disabled accessible coach to our travel fleet is an indication of the club's ongoing commitment to its disabled fans."