MOBILITY MATTERS RHYL DISABLED PENSIONER COULDN’T


GET HOLD OFWAV TAXI TO TAKE HIM HOME


An 81-year-old man with one leg had to wait an extra four and a half hours in A&E at Glan Clwyd Hospital, despite having been dis- charged, because there was


no


wheelchair accessi- ble taxi available to take him home. According to the Leader, Jack Jones had been rushed to the hospital at 1am on a recent Sunday with a suspected stroke. By 7am, he was desperate to go home to Rhyl. A number of taxi com- panies were phoned, but he was unable


to find one with a wheelchair accessi- ble vehicle available or which operated on a Sunday. He enlisted the help of local town and county councillor Brian Jones and a firm was found – but their vehicle was on a trip to the airport and the wait was more than one hour. Eventually an ambu- lance took Mr Jones home to his wife, Joy,


at about


11.30am. He told the Rhyl Journal: “I feel the issue was the day: Sunday. Don’t be ill or disabled on a


Sunday – you won’t be able to get home. “It was terrible hav- ing


Frightening!


to wait. I am


diabetic as well. “Cllr Brian Jones helped and phoned around for me. We must have tried more than seven taxis firms. I was just waiting in A&E, sit- ting in the corner. One of the doctors said to me that if he could get me in his car, he would take me back.” Mr Jones says it is important


that


wheelchair accessi- ble taxis should be available seven days


a week. Meanwhile,


I Cllr


Jones said: “Going forward,


think


something could be put


in place to


ensure companies have vehicles avail- able. I think even a simple list of taxis in Glan Clwyd Hospi- tal’s A&E would have helped the sit- uation.” Barry Thomas, man- ager at Diane’s Cars in Prestatyn, whose wheelchair access taxi was on the air- port


run, “This


pathised with Mr Jones.


sym- is


awful,” he said. But he added: “Unfortu- nately there are less and less wheelchair vehicles on the road these days. “We


have five


minibuses; two of those have wheel- chair access. On a Sunday, we have one wheelchair minibus on from 6am until 1pm, and then the other


takes over


from 1pm until 1am. Unfortunately there are times when we do not have one available; for exam- ple if one is on holiday, or on a long distance journey. “There is more call for


mobility


wheelchair/ scooter


access vehicles, and this will be some- thing we will be looking into in the future.” A taxi company owner from Rhyl, who asked not to be identified, said: “On the day in question, I spoke with the


10


Councillor myself regarding a wheel- chair vehicle. We do have one and the driver works Mon- day to Saturday, with Sunday being his own day off. “It is myself and another driver who work on Sunday, but we just have cars. I gave him all the numbers I knew of taxis that have these vehicles – I wanted to help. I am looking to purchase more, but we have to – like anyone – think of the cost. “There are restric- tions to put a taxi on fleet, whatever the vehicle type, car or minibus or wheel- chair vehicle. “These


include


being no more than five years old and after 12 years, they have to come off as a taxi as they are too old. A vehicle of this type is around £25,000 to £35,000 and as soon as they are 12 years old, these custom built taxis are no good to anyone. “Whilst the restric- tions that you can’t put a cheap vehicle on the road are good, it’s unfair to penalise disabled or larger families by only allowing a cer- tain age of vehicle. “If they reduced the restrictions slightly, by up to say eight years new to fleet, and allowed up to 15 years on as a taxi if it passes the com- pliance test, then there would be


many more vehi- cles. “I understand why Denbighshire do put restrictions on vehi- cles and they aren’t that expensive to buy up to five years old, but the custom- built wheelchair vehicles are so expensive. I can only see for the future they will get less and less because people can’t afford to spend that kind of money. “I personally will not put myself into debt in the climate we are in.” Mmmm… We go from oneextreme to the other on this controversy over the number of WAVs in any particular dis- trict. You’ve got local councils that are mandating that all taxis in their area must be WAVs, with no requirement or demand for such a provision; and then in this circumstance in Rhyl, disabled passengers are dis- advantaged on a Sunday as there are no WAVs available. This council should definitely review its vehicle age restric- tion


policy as


pertains WAVs; per- haps they might get more of


these


expensive vehicles on the road if the cost can be mitigat- ed by longer use. The Government is intent on addressing this imbalance; how soon that may hap- pen is anybody’s guess. – Ed.


OCTOBER 2018


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88