PIP Appointment 14 months later and it is too far away

Redleaf

PIP appointment arrived this morning - having waited a mere14 months since applying! The “assessment Centre” is outside of Londonin Essex (I am in Central London),the appointment for 8am. The local cab office have told me to allow 1½ – 2 hours to get there at a cost of £100 there and back. I rang the“assessment Centre” direct and from the horses mouth they confirmed it willtake 1 ½ - 2 hours (only late at night with no traffic would it be less).Calculating that as it takes me at least 2 or more hours to even get up washedand dressed each day I would have to be up at 4am to attend and pay £100 forthe privilege – (it is way too much to afford up front on top of which Atos hasalso arranged for an ESA assessment 2 weekslater which will be another £40 to find “up front”). There are plenty of othercloser centres that would be much easier to get to for the PIP assessment andthey had 11 months to book it (I applied to the DWP for PIP 14 months ago andthey didn’t pass it to Atos until 11 months ago). I have to now contact Atos and ask them torearrange but I need to calm my temper first before I speak to them. :mad:

Is it possible that this appointment be made “null and void”so that is does not count as my safety net of “allowed to re-arrange once only”. The Centre they booked is listed on their own website as “East England” and not in the Londonlist and is outside there own remit of 90 mins (although Goole maps lists it asa 1 hour Journey – it is incorrect unless the journey is late at night/earlyhours).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - What rules andregulations can I throw at them?