Group focus - Wheelchair and Mobility Scooter users

We are two disabled people in the Horncastle area who wish to establish whether there is enough support for a Lincolnshire wheelchair and mobility scooter user group.

Disabled wheelchair and mobility scooter users, their families and carers know how difficult it can be to overcome problems with increasingly distant healthcare, bad pavements, transport, closed toilets, inaccessible banks, availability of wheelchairs etc.

The idea is to share problems and ideas and to see if collective action can get things done where individuals are ignored.

There are some excellent established local disability groups, such as Lincolnshire Independent Living and national wheelchair groups such as Wheely Brits UK, so the aim would be to keep it local and focussed on wheelchairs and mobility scooters.

If you are interested in getting involved please contact:

Sharon Godrich Dixon on Facebook : Lincolnshire wheelchair and scooter users or Dick Fowler by email at: [email protected]

One immediate issue is the Lincoln City Council Accessible Taxi Consultation, which is relevant to visitors and residents in wheelchairs and follows the attention given to the loophole in the new law by the BBCs ‘One Show’ and ‘You and Yours around April.

The consultation, about the new law on Wheelchair Accessible Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs), runs to 24 September.

The new law on carrying people in wheelchairs and ‘not charging more’ does not take effect unless and until activated by the local licensing authority.

Lincoln City Council are consulting before deciding and wish to hear of good and bad experiences, including refusals or extra charging by taxis and bookable PHVs which they license.

The link to the consultation is via the Lincolnshire Independent Living website entry for 28 August: http://lincolnshireindependentliving.org.uk/

This consultation does not cover wheelchair accessible taxis/PHVs licensed outside Lincoln.

However, I am involved in a wider study of availability of wheelchair accessible Taxis/PHVs and would be grateful to see your experiences, good as well as bad so please feel free to copy me in.

Dick Fowler

Tetford