I have made use of Southern Mobility Vehicles to help me acquire wheelchair accessible vehicles for my wheelchair bound wife over the last few years.. The first wheelchair accessible vehicles I bought many years ago required my wife to sit in the rear passenger area. She tolerated this arrangement but was very keen to be able to sit next to me as driver – the usual arrangement for all our pre – wheelchair – married life. So I looked for an up front vehicle and found one quickly in the form of the Brotherwood up front adapted Kia Sedona. from Southern Mobility.
Purchasing this was a painless process and I have used this vehicle for several years to my wife’s general satisfaction. However with the passage of time and the effects of ageing my wife has found that whereas the upfront arrangement was acceptable for short journeys it was not for longer journeys because however good the tethering arrangements the upfront wheelchair always moves if only to a small extent when the vehicle is being driven using all types of public roads. My wife formed the view that for long journeys she wanted to be able to sit in an ordinary car seat that would not be prone to any movement whatsoever. An entirely reasonable requirement in my view.
So discussing this new requirement with Patrick Cooper at Southern Mobility we came to the conclusion that a VW Caravelle with an upfront facility plus plenty of room in the back passenger area to allow my wife to slide from her wheelchair onto one of the seats there would meet my wife’s needs.
Problem solved it seemed until another purchaser snapped up the Caravelle that Southern Mobility had demonstrated to me on line. Rather depressed by this development I was quickly reassured by Patrick that he would look for another similar vehicle and adapt it as necessary to meet our new needs. Preparing for a long wait I was delighted when in fact Patrick succeeded in this in a matter of weeks and made arrangements – absolutely necessary for my own and my wife’s satisfaction – for us to have it at home to trial at our own pace over a period of days. This required some complex arrangements including insurance etc to be dealt with. which was done very rapidly and I am happy to report that I am now the proud and satisfied owner of the said Caravelle and my wife is looking forward to a much more adventurous life from now on
So congratulations and thanks to Patrick and his very helpful staff for being much more than sellers of vehicles but rather an organisation that sees its role as satisfying their customers’ particular needs. In this role they form an important part of the care network for people with major mobility problems compounded often by the understandable anxieties and needs brought about by the ageing process.
My wife and I cannot speak too highly of Patrick and his staff and could not be more grateful. We would both strongly recommend Southern Mobility Vehicles to anyone with vehicle wheelchair access problems however particular these are. Best wishes and thanks again for all your help.