Esther McVey, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Tatton, joined a blind constituent on his walk to understand the daily difficulties he faces.

Ms McVey met Bryan Rigg, who has been registered blind since 1985, after he contacted her to tell her of the challenges he faces trying to get around.

Ms McVey and Mr Rigg were joined by PCSO James Morris and Adam Marsh from the Guide Dog training centre in Atherton, as they followed the regular route to Mr Riggs’ home near The Carrs to Kenmore Medical Centre.

The day of the walk saw torrential rain, but Mr Rigg said he was unable to wear a hat as it could be knocked off by overhanging branches and was unable to find the hat once it was on the ground.

He said: “I often struggle with pavements. Guide Dogs are trained to take their owners to the kerb if they encounter an obstacle, where they are told on command to take them into the road and then to ‘find the pavement’.

“This can pose a risk as we only know if a car is coming based on noise, and many electric cars do not make noise.

“Recently I went for a walk along the River Bollin and returned via Kings Road, Carrwood Road, Broad Walk and Hawthorn Lane.

“I encountered several refuse bins and had to leave the pavement nine times to avoid them, putting myself and Ginny in danger and upsetting some drivers who had to avoid us.

“I tend to avoid this area on Mondays, Hawthorn Lane and the Albert Road area on Fridays and the Lacey Green Road area on Thursdays as I know I am at risk of being injured.

“There are overhanging tree branches and overgrown hedges too numerous to list which also cause a problem.”

Mr Rigg said parking vehicles on pavements was also a big problem, and told Ms McVey how he recently injured his forehead on a wing mirror from a lorry parked on Styal Road, which was unloading scaffolding.

Ms McVey said: “I wanted to join Bryan on his walk to understand first-hand the issues he was having.

“People with visual impairments face so many challenges every day and have to manoeuvre around things many of us take for granted.

“Seeing first-hand the difficulties made me appreciate how we all need to be more considerate and make small changes which will make a big difference to people like Bryan.

“Things like taking our bins back once they have been collected, cutting back tree branches and not parking partly on the pavement are simple ways we can help.

“A lot of the time sighted people have no reason to realise there is a problem, and therefore don’t know their actions are causing an issue.

“I am hopeful this will help raise the profile of the matter, and I am delighted that James and Adam were able to join us.

“Separately, I will be talking to Cheshire East again to ask them to ensure empty bins are not left in the middle of pavements.”