I have decided that i want to sell mobilityright.co.uk as i have less time available, as you can see i haven’t written and published a post for it since august, rather than leave it for too long i feel it is better to pass it on to someone who has the time to keep it updated.

I have enjoyed writing for the blog since i started it in 2008, it is well established and it would be nice to see someone carry it on, hopefully improving it too.

The sale will include the domain and the blog, i have it hosted on a UK based server (shared hosting) i highly recommend keeping it on a UK server although that’s up to you, the sale of the blog wont include the hosting so if you buy it you will need to sort that out.

I’m open to offers so if you’re interested please contact me

This post can be easily deleted of course once the blog is sold.

If you have any questions about the blog please feel free to ask.

Thanks

John

My DMA Strider mini 3 new batteries but does not run smoothly just the hint of stop start hardly noticeable at all speeds on the reostat and on smooth shopping malls flooring any suggestions please?

Philip

If that is the case then i think this is where you need to stop and think for a moment and to remind yourself of what a mobility scooter is intended for, i think that its a bad idea to try transporting anyone other than yourself on your mobility scooter but also they are not designed to start performing allsorts of jobs.

Some are intended for more heavy duty use, whereas some are more suited to lightwieight use like taking them around the supermarket, sure you can carry some light shopping on them and there are plenty of accessories available to help you transport your crutches or walking stick and other manageable items as these are intended to assist you further if needed when not on your mobility scooter of course but trying to make a mobility scooter do a wide range of tasks that it was not built for is generally a bad idea.

Just in the same way that any other mode of transport will experience problems sooner if you use it incorrectly, so too will a mobility scooter if you expect too much from it and try to use it in a way that was not intended by the manufacturer.

You will probably be paying out more often for repairs and spare parts too and there is a greater risk of doing more serious damage to your mobility scooter and yourself if you choose to use it other than what it was built for.

If you need to transport more than a few items and yourself and possibly for a longer distance than normal then it is worth considering whether the mobility scooter is the right choice for those types of journeys and that it might be better to arrange for a vehicle to take you on your journey, this doesn’t mean that you have to be without a mobility scooter for a particular journey but its important that you have the right type of assistance for at least the part of the journey that might become difficult to manage with the use of a mobility scooter only.

Hi. I wonder if you can help me. I have a Landlex Broadway S400x RS scooter (2008) with a wierd problem. When moving off the power suddenly goes completely – no lights, no status LED, nothing. If I leave it for a while, the power returns until I try to move off again. The batteries are fully charged. I’ve fitted new motor brushes, checked all visible wiring and plugs, including dismantling the 2 battery boxes to check internal wires.The cut-out on the
battery box stays on (i.e. doesn’t trip) and all anclilliaries work OK until I move off. Is there a safety breaker somewhere that could be causing this? I’ve contacted the manufacturer in Taiwan, but they have not replied. Any ideas? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide. (P.S. do you know where I may be able to get a wiring diagram?

This is a problem for anyone, even an individual with no disabilities will struggle to get past or be forced to walk into the road to get past, but it is even worse for people that are using a mobility aid, whether you are using a mobility scooter, wheelchair, crutches, walking stick, walking frame or holding onto a friend or relative who is providing support for you, it is an inconvenience for you to have to walk into the road in order to carry on your way.

Often there is no particularly obvious reason for a driver to do this, you will see this in streets where there is ample space on the road, it is inconsiderate as it doesn’t give people the choice other than to try and squeeze past or walk onto the road where they otherwise wouldn’t need to.

As there are complaints at times about some mobility scooter users not being considerate of others i feel that it is also important to point out how some drivers are inconsiderate by parking their vehicles in this way.

It is always important to mention that these types of problems are from a very small number of drivers, just in the same way that it’s a small number of mobility scooter users who dont operate theirs as safely as they should.

Sometimes im suprised at drivers parking their cars fully on the pavement when the road is wide enough for them to park it on the road without narrowing the road enough to cause problems, i feel that there is more risk of a car actually getting the paint work scratched and scuffed by people trying to squeeze by.

Without a lack of respect for using the roads, pavements and anywhere else in a safe manner i feel that avoidable problems will continue to occur, pedestrians, mobility scooter users, cyclists, motorcyclists, car, van and truck drivers, even bus drivers, joggers and all others that use public pavements, roads, paths, tracks etc need to be as responsible as possible, everyone needs to think about how their actions and their behaviour affects other people, in ways that are not always obvious or immediate because understandably people dont always see straight away how something may be problematic.

At times a pedestrian wont attempt to move over to one side to allow a mobility scooter to pass easily and safely, this is understandable if a pedestrian is not aware of a mobility scooter approaching, for example if the mobility scooter is approaching a pedestrian from behind or if both people are approaching a corner with no way of knowing if anyone is coming around the corner in the opposite direction.

Some people will see you approaching though and make little or no attempt to make way for you, it might be true that a person who wont make any effort to let you pass safely reacts the same with all people, whether its a group of people walking together, a mother with a pushchair or someone carrying bags of shopping home from the supermarket. So i think that it shouldn’t be taken personally, there is probably no particular reason that another person will do that other than lacking general courtesy in public situations.

Theres also the possiblity of a person simply not being alert to what is going on around them, some people can be walking along thinking about something, they may have a lot on their mind and not be as aware of their surroundings as they normally would be, at least once in your life you have probably witnessed someone stepping straight out into a road and almost getting run over then suddenly seeing them kind of wake up out of the daydream that they were probably in and get sharply snapped back into the physical ,very real and at times quite dangerous world that we live in.

I think it is important to point this out that there are pedestrians that lack consideration for mobility scooter users that are using the pavement in the same sense that some mobility scooter users on the pavement lack consideration for the pedestrians.

More can be done to educate users and non users of mobility scooters on safety so that it doesn’t cause further upset and lead to more serious problems in the future, after all some of the people complaining about mobility scooter users now might need to use one themselves in the future.

Most users are using a mobility scooter because of a disability, it would be ironic if we see a future generation of mobility scooter users that included some people that end up with a disability because they were hit by a mobility scooter years before and those not needing them now but maybe in the future should be able to look towards the use of a mobility scooter as a positive thing, not as a menace of the pavements.

If you’re talking to a person without disabilities they might automatically think that you need only a walking frame, or only a wheelchair or mobility scooter as without knowing enough about the disability that you have it can be difficult for them to imagine what you experience as you progress through each day.

Apart from experiencing pain there can be issues with balance, numbness and a whole range of difficulties that can change hours later which of course then leads to you having to swap what you may have been using earlier in the day for something else to help you get by until its time for bed which for some people brings even more problems.

Unlike an individual who doesn’t need to use any mobility aids at all, you literally have to adapt to how your body is reacting as the day goes on, that itself can be exhausting as you deal with it all, or the change might be spread out throughout the week but all the same it can make for a challenging time for sure.

What people can see is the fact that you need to use a mobility aid, but what they dont see is how you might have to constantly adapt and be ready to switch to a different aid depending on how you are feeling and what your plans are for the day.

Hi, i am using a sterling mobility scooter to make a kids toy. Sometimes when i switch it on everything is ok, other times it is dead. Nothing i do will persuade it to turn on after this. My question is whether there is a reset procedure and if the handles on the tiller are not central will it still turn on. I have checked all wires and connections, left it unplugged from the batteries, ensured the batteries are charged and reconnected everything as it should be. No joy . Also can i read trouble codes from the diagnostic plug and how would i go about it. Please help excited kids and no prospect of getting it to go. Sorry don’t know what model but it’s the big 4 wheel one with a digital dash from a while ago.

Jon

Although they are registered with the DVLA, and display a ‘nil duty’ tax disc they are not classed as a motor vehicle.

They should still be operated in a safe manner taking into account other road users for your own safety and the safety of others, but fortunately as a class 3 mobility scooter user you are exempt from certain rules in place for other vehicles using the road.

Take note that the exemption is with regards to the tax disc cost and no registration plate needed, other road rules and laws apply and should be adhered to when taking a class 3 mobility scooter onto the road.

Although a lot of floor surfaces make things easier for a wheelchair user, one type of surface that can pose a few problems is carpeted floors as they can make the job of moving a wheelchair across the carpet more difficult, it can require more effort for the person moving the wheelchair, this will be dependant of the type of carpet and to an observer it may not look too different but whoever is actually needing to move a wheelchair across a carpeted surface will often feel the extra effort required.

Although many public and private buildings do quite a lot to make their buildings as accessible as they can, there are still lots of places that may not understand that small differences like the actual flooring type can make quite a difference to a wheelchair user.

This is understandable as many people might immediately think or ramps, lifts, wide enough spaces to maneuver, automatic doors etc when thinking about accessibility, but it can be the less obvious things like carpeting and whether there is any in place or not and the type in place that can make a difference to how easy or difficult a situation may become for a wheelchair user while moving across a floor.

Although these difficulties can arise when needing to move through buildings other than your own home, you at least have the choice of being able to choose the right type of flooring within your own home, funds permitting of course, but this is at least one place where you can improve a situation relatively easy with wood, laminate, tile or lino flooring.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t choose to carpet your floors if you prefer carpets, and some carpets wont cause the same problems as others, it can also make a difference how professionally a carpet is laid, if it is stretched out properly and a professional job is done so that you dont get ripples appearing then this will make a difference to how well the wheelchair passes over it.

If you dont like the thought of wood, laminated or other flooring that may seem less homely and a bit cold, especially during our cooler months here in britain, dont force yourself to choose and live with this type of flooring, carpets are cosier and what a lot of people are already used to, but just make sure that you are selective of the type of carpet when choosing, that way you can still have comfortable and cosy flooring that lends itself to when you need to pass over it using your wheelchair.