Silver lining for Mobility show's crowds

The Mobility Roadshow celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. Douglas Campbell reports on a showcase for some of the best the mobility industry has to offer

June saw the Mobility Roadshow arrive for the first time at Stoneleigh Park near Coventry. This was a welcome return to the Midlands after two years at Kemble Airfield near Cirencester.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the roadshow, which started as a very low-key affair in 1983 at Crowthorne in Berkshire. When Ann Frye persuaded the Department of Transport to try out her idea of a motor show for disabled people, can anyone have imagined that it would grow to the scale of this year’s event?

Just as the roadshow has evolved, so have the style and range of vehicles, adaptations and equipment on show. And one of the big stories at this year’s roadshow was the Wav-Evolution from Aspect Conversions and Sirus Automotive (www.wav-evolution.co.uk). For the first time, a wheelchair-user can stay in their wheelchair in the front seat of a car and all the rear seats are available as normal.

Based on the Kia Sedona, the adaptation leaves all of the other six seats in place and the boot totally unaffected.

Some serious engineering development has been undertaken to attach a section of floor and a ramp to the front passenger side door. With the door open, the wheelchair rolls up the ramp and is easily locked down. Closing the door positions the disabled passenger in a superbly comfortable position next to the driver and there is none of the heaving and pushing involved in transferring from wheelchair to car-seat. Having launched the passenger version, work is well underway to produce a drive-from-wheelchair model.

The development of the Wav-Evolution shows that here in the UK we have some of the best engineers in the world and they are producing some really imaginative, innovative solutions to meet the mobility needs of disabled people. This is hardly surprising, given the way we lead the world in automotive engineering. Many of the world’s leading car manufacturers have their vehicles designed here and nearly every Formula One racing car depends on British engineering.

Ten exhibitors at the roadshow this year were at the first event in 1983: Chartwell Insurance, Mobilise, DVLA, Ford, Gowrings, Honda, Motability, Steering Developments, Unwins and Vauxhall.

Vauxhall (www.vauxhall. co.uk) was showing its brand new Agila.

Mobilise (www.mobilise. info) launched its campaign to prevent disabled people being disadvantaged by the planned congestion charge in Manchester.

Steering Developments (www.steeringdevelopments.co.uk) launched its latest rooftop carrier for folded wheelchairs, which can lift up to 33kg.

Autochair (www.auto chair.co.uk) has been to the Czech Republic to find its new “Up and Out” seat that helps people to a standing position from their car seat.

Available with a choice of seats, this unit makes getting out so much easier for those who find standard car seats too low to get up from.

Land Rover was there, but their staff did not seem to want to meet anyone. Hiding inside their trailer with no-one offering to talk to us or operate the wheelchair lift, we don’t know what they had to offer disabled people. They were not alone in ignoring visitors to their stand, and wearing a “Press” badge often made no difference!

Clearly, some exhibitors were getting it right as there were always too many people visiting the Disability Now stand for me to ever get near and the Blue Badge Network stand was busy with people asking questions about parking rules and the London congestion charge.

For those not looking for vehicles, there was a wealth of choice among the other stands. Wheelchairs and scooters for every age and in styles to suit sporty types and those with really complex needs. Information and advice from the Highways Agency, Department for Transport, Forum of Mobility Centres, Department for Work and Pensions, www.direct.gov.uk, Driving Standards Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and others. The Financial Ombudsman Service (www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk) was telling visitors how it can help if you’ve got a complaint you can’t sort out with your bank or insurance company, or with the business that gave you a loan.

The roadshow seemed smaller this year, but that might have been due to the site being smaller and more compact. (There were 151 exhibitors this year compared to 221 last year.) If you missed it, the next one is at Kemble on 4, 5 and 6 June, 2009.

• www.mobilityroad show.co.uk