PIP Face to Face appointment

PLease advise!
I am beside myself with worry! I received my appointment letter through today for a face to face appointment with CAPITA. I live in North Wales and they want me to go to Stoke-on-Trent for an appointment at 8.10am! I cannot understand why they have sent me so far away and think it is completely unreasonable of them to do so. I don't feel that they have actually read my PIP form at all as I clearly indicated my daily struggles with physical and mental health! I cannot drive for long periods, I am unable to cope with unfamiliar places, I am unable to use public transport due to deep-rooted anxieties and panic attacks and I think it is completely farcical that they expect me to get all the way there for 8.10 in the morning!!! I need to know how to word my protest in a way that they retract this appointment altogether as I worry that if I refuse this one I will not have a leg to stand on for any further appointments that they throw my way! Please can someone help me? Thank you in advance!
J Murray

Hi and Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

A claimant can be asked to travel for up to 90 minutes each way to attend an assessment centre (the journey time is worked out using public transport). I think it would probably take a helicopter to get from North Wales to Stoke-on-Trent in 90 minutes!

As this centre is clearly too far away, you should be able to rearrange without it counting against you. You might have to make this point to whoever you speak to!

If you want to get an idea of what to expect at the assessment, our PIP gjuide explains the process.

PIP help for claimants

You might want to bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future. This will allow you to return with further questions/comments about your PIP without having to start a new topic each time. It helps us enormously when everything relating to the same claim is kept in one place - and I hope you will find it useful too

Thank you for your reply! They have already worked out my public transport option and have worked out the time as being 1 hour and 27 minutes by train and bus with some walking involved! Will I still be able to dispute this?

You can dispute it if it is not true (have a look at train timetables). If it is true, then I think any change will count against you. This is not the end of the world but it would mean that you have to attend the next appointment or risk having your claim closed

I recently changed mine from Northampton to Birmingham, If you have a centre closer you can ring up & see if they will change it. They were very helpful to me

Well I managed to finally pick up the phone to dispute the ridiculous appointment expectation on me from Capita! They gave me a home assessment appointment, which I had yesterday! The assessor was lovely, very sympathetic and understanding and was with me for an hour and a 1/4. She recorded my answers in great detail and seemed very understanding of my conditions. She also commented that she would be finishing her report at home and that she would be reporting on how distressed I was upon answering the door and that I was hyperventilating! All I can do now is wait......very nervously! At least that stressful part of my claim is now out of the way. Just don't know how I'm going to cope if they refuse me as I'm really going to suffer financially without my DLA!
Thanks for the help and support!