Calls for Bridgwater to be more ‘disabled-friendly’ (From Bridgwater Mercury)
Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting MERCURY NEWS to 80360 or email us
Calls for Bridgwater to be more ‘disabled-friendly’
5:00pm Thursday 7th March 2013 in News By Kirsty James
Ray Lamb is calling for better mobility services for disabled people. Photo: Kirsty James
THE ex-chairman of a Bridgwater disability service says the town’s lack of mobility scooter hire is driving away shoppers.
Ray Lamb, who used to run a Shopmobility service in the town, said ex-customers have told him they do their shopping in Taunton because Bridgwater lacks the facility.
He told the Mercury: “I also used to be a taxi driver and other drivers still ask me where they can take people in the town to hire a scooter.
“I’m disabled and, even though I have a mobility scooter, there’s nowhere to charge it.
“Just having a walking stick makes it really hard to get from one end of town to the other.”
The Shopmobility service closed a few years ago. It was struggling to pay the rent at its premises in Eastover after being asked to move from Clare Street by Sedgemoor District Council because of redevelopment.
Sally Jones, chair of action group Bridgwater Forward, also thinks the town could be made more accessible.
She said: “I’m disabled and I have a scooter. I don’t think Bridgwater is disabled-friendly. For example, the curbs are very high with the traffic lights in St John Street and we no longer have a Shopmobility.
“I’ve had a few people ask me where our Shopmobility service is located and when they find out there isn’t one it’s putting people off.
“We need it in Angel Place or Eastover - even if it’s just folding wheelchairs with a £5 deposit. It works in Taunton, why wouldn’t it work here?”
A spokesman for Sedgemoor District Council said it currently owns no empty shops to be used for the service, but people can apply for funding from its grants panel.
The spokesman added: “The funding comes from public money so applicants will need to provide details of exactly what the money will be spent on.”
For more information about disability services www.compassdisability.org.uk.
• Do you think Bridgwater is disability-friendly? Email newsdesk@bridgwatermercury.co.uk or tweet @BWMercury using #bridgwatermobility
Comments(7)
Samej1
says...
11:33am Fri 8 Mar 13
File Yer Own Bleedin Teeth wrote:You've answered your own question in the last sentence...
Back in the 1960s, when most people walked or cycled around the town, as only a few had cars, there was only one disabled person to be seen, a man in a wheel-cycle. This was a kind of large tricycle / wheelchair, operated by a pair of handle pedals turned by the driver. Nopw Bridgwater, and indeed mosttowns in the UK, has a very large disabled population, using battery buggies. Why?.
Makes I laugh
says...
1:32pm Fri 8 Mar 13
hevjay
says...
7:44pm Fri 8 Mar 13
File Yer Own Bleedin Teeth wrote:Wheelchairs are heavy to push and offer the disabled person no independance, self propeling ones are jolly hard work. I take it you or n0-one you know is disabled!
Back in the 1960s, when most people walked or cycled around the town, as only a few had cars, there was only one disabled person to be seen, a man in a wheel-cycle. This was a kind of large tricycle / wheelchair, operated by a pair of handle pedals turned by the driver. Nopw Bridgwater, and indeed mosttowns in the UK, has a very large disabled population, using battery buggies. Why?.
Blurby Monster
says...
9:45pm Fri 8 Mar 13
hevjay wrote:I"m **** kin disabled, mentally, so is the Kiddy. At least, it helps me slip out of a lot of deep **** if people think I"m **** kin nuts in some way. So what, who hasn"t go a few screws loose nowadays?.
File Yer Own Bleedin Teeth wrote:Wheelchairs are heavy to push and offer the disabled person no independance, self propeling ones are jolly hard work. I take it you or n0-one you know is disabled!
Back in the 1960s, when most people walked or cycled around the town, as only a few had cars, there was only one disabled person to be seen, a man in a wheel-cycle. This was a kind of large tricycle / wheelchair, operated by a pair of handle pedals turned by the driver. Nopw Bridgwater, and indeed mosttowns in the UK, has a very large disabled population, using battery buggies. Why?.
BaldCarl2
says...
2:28am Sat 9 Mar 13
I bet you don't get that in Taunton.
Hombre
says...
7:30am Wed 13 Mar 13
File Yer Own Bleedin Teeth says...
8:43am Fri 8 Mar 13