Ask the Experts

How can we hire a hoist in Cyprus?

Q We’ve got a family holiday coming up in Cyprus. I’ve seen an article about wheelchair-accessible vehicles for airport transfers and wondered if there’s an organisation or company that hires equipment. Ideally we’d need to hire a mobile hoist and shower chair. Can you help?
Nicola Unsworth, by email

Kate Sheehan replies: Alastair Gibbs of TPG DisableAids recommends G.C. Paraquip in Cyprus (paraquip.com.cy). Paraquip can arrange delivery and pick up from the airport and appears to have very reasonable prices.
If you want to try out the equipment first, you’ll need a UK supplier. Try Wealden Rehab (wealdenrehab.com).  Based in Kent, Wealden has a network of representatives through the South East and beyond, and it’s client-centred with regard to hoist provision. Commodes are trickier but Care-Med has a hire option on an Ocean Dual tilt-and-recline commode and shower chair that can be taken apart and packed away for travel. Check care-med.co.uk

How could a large wheelchair cross London?

Q Recently we’ve travelled to London from Lancs a few times with our daughter who is a full-time wheelchair user in a large chair. These trips have been both for medical appointments and for pleasure. While we enjoy a good train service from Lancs to London, we have found it extremely difficult transporting her round London. When she was smaller we used black cabs to get from place to place but she no longer fits in one. We have tried every avenue to find out about larger wheelchair-accessible taxis, without success.    
Alison Petit, by email

Helen Dolphin says: If your daughter is unable to get around London she can become a temporary member of London Dial-a-ride. You just need to email Dar.GeneralEnquiries@tfl.gov.uk and ask about this option and they will tell you how to apply.

If they could guarantee you a place, this might be your best option.

Alternatively there are PHV Operators (Private Hire Vehicles) working in and around London that provide vehicles that could possibly be suitable. Among the firms that provide wheel­chair-accessible vehicles are ruskin-privatehire.com and wheelgetyouthere.com, although I haven’t personally tried either of them and can’t say how much they’d charge and what the service would be like. I strongly recommend phoning them before you book, and explain exactly what you need.

There is a facility on the Transport for London website (tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaround/findaride) where you can search for PHV companies (you need to tick the "wheelchair" box for it to give you details of firms offering accessible vehicles) but you have to know in which London borough you want to travel.

Can pilots play God?

Q In April, just as I was preparing to fly back to Manchester from Newquay Airport, one of the airline staff thought I looked unwell and asked if I was OK. It was a very warm day and we’d had to go to three different desks to get our boarding passes, so I was a little stressed. I explained that I had an implantable defibrillator fitted, and that the redness or blueness of my face was due to medication I took to control my heart rhythm.

I was asked to sit down and the next thing we knew, two paramedics came over. Apparently the captain was insisting that I be checked over before he’d let me fly. I was taken to an ambulance where I was examined and found to be OK.

One of the paramedics wrote a report confirming that I was good to fly but the captain then said that he needed to see a doctor’s note. Apart from anything else, it was Good Friday, the hospital was in Truro – a £95 round trip in a taxi – and it wasn’t clear that there’d be a cardiologist there to see me.

In due course the plane took off without us. The next flight, via Bristol, wasn’t due for another three hours. Since there were no more direct flights that day, my wife and I had to take a £16 taxi to Newquay, and go back to Manchester by bus. Since the bus didn’t leave until late afternoon, we didn’t get home until after midnight, and the cost, with lunch, was £140.

What I want to know is, is a pilot entitled to over­rule a paramedic’s report and put a heart patient and his 66-year-old wife through all this stress and cost, and do I as a disabled person have any rights to claim any money back from the airline? I’ve been told that a pilot has the right to refuse to allow anyone to board aircraft.
James Lyons, by email

Andy Wright explains: Your information is correct, unfortunately. The pilot/captain is God and his or her word is final.

That said, I think it’s only fair, given the situation, for the airline to provide the customer with a reason for any refusal to be allowed to travel, and for appropriate and sensible additional costs to be reimbursed, if only for PR purposes.

Can our council close services without offering alternatives?

Q I’m a full-time carer for my 24-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy and goes to a local resource centre four days a week. Bradford Council is planning to close the centre from next April. Members and carers met Bradford’s Adult and Community Services and asked what alternative facilities the council was offering for the centre’s 90 regulars. The best it could come up with was the local library and swimming. We’ve spoken to the local papers and the BBC. What else should we do?
Linda Hetherington, by email

Agnes Fletcher responds: Because of the budget cuts, local authorities everywhere are reducing services. In your campaign, you could ask whether the council has conducted an equality impact assessment on closing the resource centre – and if so, ask to see a copy. If possible, get a lawyer to review it to see whether it is adequate.

You may be able to get the decision judicially reviewed. Harrow Association of Disabled People used this method to challenge a new policy introduced by Harrow Council, and the council was found to have acted unlawfully in not having “due regard” to equality.

You should also continue your campaign of getting support from newspapers, radio and television, and mobilising the 90 disabled people and their families that you mention. Ask for a meeting with the councillor responsible for services for disabled people, and get the local newspaper photographer to accompany you. Collect signatures for a high street petition and give them to the councillor. Enlist the help of your MP. Your local disability body may be able to broaden the campaign.

As well as fighting for the service your son currently enjoys, try other options. Call the Care Quality Com­mission (03000 616161), Disability Alliance (020 7247 8776), and Nat­ional Centre for Independent Living (020 7587 1663).