PEOPLE using mobility scooters will be able to visit the Westgate Centre more easily once a taxi rank outside is completed - almost exactly six months after opening day.

In February it was revealed that disabled people were finding it hard to reach the new £440m centre because the rank in Old Greyfriars Street had not yet been opened.

Colin Ridler, 65, from Oxford, uses a mobility scooter as he suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome.

He told how he faced a ride across the city centre from the nearest rank in Gloucester Green because the rank in Old Greyfriars Street had not been made ready.

After learning that the new rank is due to open on Monday, Mr Ridler, a father-of-one, said: “I am really pleased because I can now get dropped off next to the centre.

“Of course it would have been better to have a rank on the other side of the centre, in Norfolk Street, but that route has been reserved for buses.

“This new rank will mean I won’t have to use up so much battery power on my scooter because I won’t have to come across from Gloucester Green.”

Mr Ridler, who works in publishing, said he was a regular visitor to the Westgate Centre and enjoyed dining at Vietnamese rooftop restaurant Pho.

Taxi drivers have been banned from using the Norfolk Street-Castle Street link route.

The City of Oxford Licensed Taxicab Association (COLTA), which represents the drivers of the city’s 107 black cabs, has lobbied the county council to allow drivers to use Norfolk Street and Castle Street around the Westgate Centre.

But a ban was approved as part of the planning permission, given by Oxford City Council in 2014. Buses are given priority.

COLTA spokesman Sajad Khan said: “We have been told the new rank will be ready by April 23. I don’t know why it has taken so long.

“We are very keen for the new rank to open because there is very limited space at Gloucester Green and at the railway station.

“Lots of disabled people have asked us to be dropped off outside the Westgate entrances but we have told them we are not allowed to do so - having this new rank will be a big improvement.”

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Martin Crabtree said: “The outstanding work the Westgate Alliance needed to do in order for the taxi rank to be opened is nearing completion and we have been assured by them that the rank and turning circle will be in order in time to open on April 23.”

Casey Bibby, marketing manager at Westgate Oxford, said: “Our team has been working closely with Oxford City Council and a specialist accessibility consultant since the start of the planning process to ensure every visitor can enjoy what Westgate has to offer.

“As part of our commitment to make Westgate accessible for all, the new taxi rank will open on Monday, April 23.

“Discussions with the city council are ongoing and we will continue to work closely with them.”

City councillor Steve Goddard has put forward a motion to the council meeting on Monday, at the town hall at 5pm, raising a number of concerns, including ‘low headroom at car park entrances for specially adapted vehicles’.

Shopping centre bosses said earlier that the centre has ‘a range' of accessibility services including ‘wheelchair-friendly access to the centre and accessible parking’.