PARALYMPIAN medal winner Lucy Shuker was in West Somerset on Tuesday to officially launch a new open access railway coach.

The top ranking British tennis player joined staff and students from Minehead's Foxes Academy to make the inaugural journey on board the Golden Fox coach on the West Somerset Railway.

The coach has been specially modified to allow easy wheelchair access from the platform and allows wheelchair passengers to sit with their carers or friends in the comfort of a main carriage.

Students from Foxes, a training hotel and college for young people with learning disabilities, ran a competition to name the new coach.

Pictured, from the left, are Foxes Academy director Sue Jenkins, West Somerset Railway general manager Paul Conibeare and Paralympian tennis ace Lucy Shuker.

Photo: Steve Guscott