Come and Have a Go Day is the chance to try a range of sports that you might not have participated in before. The event is aimed at all ages and disabilities. Sports include; Boccia, Football, Cricket, Archery, Wheelchair Basketball, Table Tennis, Wheelchair Badminton, and more.

The event takes place at Derby College, The Johnson Building, Locomotive Way, Pride Park, DE24 8PU on Sunday 24th June.

Don’t miss out on this great event!

For more information please email will.mackenzie@disabilitydirect.com or call 01332 404040.

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These proposals retain the important distinction between taxis – which can “ply for hire” on the street or a cab rank – and private hire vehicles which can only be pre-booked.

But all vehicles would be subject to national minimum safety standards and, for private hire vehicles, these would replace more than 340 sets of local regulations. This will reduce the burden on business because, once appropriately licensed, a private hire firm could work freely across the country, without geographical restrictions. This would contribute to widening consumer choice and to making services cheaper and more competitive.

We also make suggestions covering a wide range of issues, including improving provision for persons with disabilities, quantity restrictions and enforcement.

In relation to people with disabilities the consultation will seek views on how to address the problems of availability of accessible vehicles and taxi’s ignoring disabled passengers seeking to hail them. They will also seek views on having a separate licencing category for wheelchair accessible vehicles.

The full consultation can be viewed at by clicking here or by calling 020 3334 0200.

Helen Dolphin will be submitting a response on behalf of Disabled Motoring UK. You can respond to the consultation as an individual, or if you are a member of our charity you can email helen@disabledmotoring.org with your views and they will be added to the Disabled Motoring UK response.

The closing date for the consultation is Friday 10th August 2012.

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We believe it is a moral and human right for people who travel in a wheelchair to be able to purchase a converted vehicle that has been properly tested and is a safe as the original car.

The ‘No Compromises!’ safety campaign will urge buyers of wheelchair accessible cars to demand sled testing certificates – the only way to check a vehicle is as safe as possible. The campaign will also seek to change legislation so that only ‘sled tested’ vehicles can be sold. SIGN OUR PETITION TODAY

Worryingly, the industry has seen up to 50 per cent of conversions that have passed other less significant tests fail the vital sled test.

A sled test is similar to the crash testing seen on TV – a dummy is strapped into a wheelchair within the car, which is then put through head-on collisions to check that both the belts and their fixings are strong enough to withstand a real-life accident and keep the wheelchair user secure.

The reason testing is so vital after conversion to a wheelchair accessible vehicle is because converting a car is a complex process involving significant structural changes to the vehicle such as lowering the floor. If this is not done properly, and by experts, the car may be unsafe.

Helen Dolphin, Director of Policy and Campaigns, said: “It is amazing that vehicles are being sold that may not be safe for the drivers and their disabled passengers and we feel strongly that this most stop. We will be calling on the Government to change legislation so that people don’t unknowingly purchase unsafe vehicles. Alongside this we will be educating people to make sure they ask the right questions before purchasing a converted car.”

Constables Mobility’s Managing Director David Constable, one of the experts supporting the campaign, explains: “People who travel in wheelchairs have a right to a vehicle that has been properly tested so they are as safe as possible in the event of an accident. I strongly believe that all companies who convert cars should only be allowed to sell them if they have been successfully tested after conversion – including being sled tested – so the vehicle meets and exceeds the latest European safety standards. It’s a moral and human right to have a car that has been converted safely.”

From 29 April 2012, wheelchair accessible vehicles have to meet both the European standard for the car before it is converted and pass additional tests which check the changes made during the conversion process. However, not every conversion will have passed the same tests and it doesn’t guarantee that sled testing has been carried

What is sled testing?

The sled test is similar to the crash testing that many of us have seen on TV a dummy is strapped into a wheelchair in the body of the car, which is then put through head-on collisions to check that both the belts and their fixings are strong enough to withstand a real-life accident and keep the wheelchair user secure.

Sled testing is the only means of proving that the cell (i.e. the conversion anchorage points together with the belts and tie-downs) is safe.

The industry has witnessed a 50 per cent failure rate with the wheelchair and occupant sled test, even when the conversion has previously been pull-tested and the belts and tie-downs have been tested separately by the belt manufacturer. It is when the constituent parts are put together as a complete system that they fail.

Why is testing important?

• ·         Converting a WAV involves major changes so the original tests may no longer apply
• ·         In a WAV, the wheelchair is the seat but it wasn’t there when the original car was tested
• ·         Testing is needed to check both the fixings and the belts work properly in the event of a crash
• ·         Sled testing is the only test that actively checks whether the WAV is able to keep the passenger travelling in a wheelchair secure in a real-life accident.

How do people make sure the vehicle they are buying is safe for the driver and wheelchair user?

Converting a car to make it wheelchair accessible is a complex process involving significant structural changes to the vehicle such as lowering the floor. If this is not done properly, and by experts, the car may be unsafe.

The simple way to check whether a new car meets these standards is to ask to see its certification. Sled tested WAVs will have an ECWVTA.M1 certificate. But do check that the certificate is for the conversion, not the original car.

For more information or interview requests contact Helen Dolphin Director of Policy and Campaigns Disabled Motoring UK 01508 489449 or e-mail helen@disabledmotoring.org or Suzi Christie at Blueberry PR on 01435 830031 or e-mail suzi@blueberry-pr.co.uk

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On Friday 25^th May 2012, Accessible Motorsport supported by SK Motorsport will be fielding their Volvo S60 for the track day on the  Rockingham circuit, and 6 places are available for interested persons.

Experience levels can range from a first timer wishing to find out what track days are all about to the more serious individual considering gathering experience towards getting their national race licence. So what’s holding you back?

Your fee of £150 covers:-

• Welcome, Introduction, and Sign-on.
• Refreshments
• Use of helmets and safety equipment (you may use your own kit if you wish, subject to it meeting organisers’ standards)
• Shared use of the Volvo S60 fully prepared race car.
• Mechanical support by the SK Motorsport team

Expert tuition will be provided on the day by triple Renault Clio champion (2002, 2004, 2011) and recent 2012 round winner Paul Rivett.

So, are you interested?  If so, please CLICK HERE to book & reserve your place ( hurry as they are going fast)

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What will be of interest to DMUK members is the change of rules when someone has to go into hospital for more than 28 days. At the moment if this happens and you receive a Motability car your DLA payments continue to be paid to Motability but once PIP is introduced this will cease to happen. We don’t know what will happen to your Motability car or powered wheelchair but it could be taken away and sold. This could then mean long delays before a new car is received and money being lost on advance payments and adaptations. Tell DMUK what you think about this or tell DWP directly by responding to their consultation. You can read the full document by clicking HERE.

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However, what this new badge won’t do is stop people using badges that don’t belong to them.

The only way to stop this happening is for Local Authorities to police the scheme and ensure the badge is being used by the disabled person.

For many authorities this is not a high priority and so there are lots of people getting away with depriving councils of parking revenue and genuine disabled people from parking. Abuse of this kind is estimated to be as high as 40% in some areas.

However, not all authorities take this view and one example of an authority really getting to grips with parking abuse is Lambeth Council in London. Lambeth employ a team of Blue Badge fraud investigators to make sure that badges used in Lambeth are only benefitting those they were issued to. To see how the team carry out their investigations and deal with offenders I spent a day on the streets in Brixton with the fraud squad.

On patrol

Helen Dophin with the fraud team

The fraud team consists of Ashley Brandon who is the Parking Investigations Manager, and Steve Davidson and Mark Summerfield who are fraud investigators. Both Steve and Mark are retired police officers. To carry out the ticketing we were joined by parking attendant Marlon Dixon. Steve and Mark had been out since 6.30am that morning to get evidence of various vehicles arriving in Rushcroft Road not far from Lambeth Town Hall. This street is popular with traders who work nearby, but surprisingly most of the cars didn’t have trader parking permits in their windscreens, but instead were displaying Blue Badges. This is because in this street Blue Badge holders can park all day free of charge, but a business permit costs £600 and parking without a permit is £3.00 per hour.

The first car brought to my attention was a BMW which had a Lambeth issued Blue Badge in the window. Steve had been watching this vehicle for several days and had spotted the nearby café owner parking here before starting his shift at the café. Checks had been made and the badge being used was issued to a very elderly gentleman. The first thing that happened was Steve phoned up the badge holder to see where they were and it transpired they were at home in bed. Marlon then issued a parking ticket for parking without proper payment and a truck was called to tow the vehicle away. A few minutes later the truck arrived and the BMW was loaded on and taken off to the pound. The police are told which vehicles have been towed away so when they are called about a “stolen” vehicle they can direct the owner to the pound. The Blue Badge is then removed from the vehicle before it is returned. To get the vehicle out of the pound costs the owner £265.

But this isn’t the end of it. The vehicle owner is invited by the fraud team to be interviewed about their Blue Badge abuse. If the team feel that a crime has been committed they are either prosecuted under the Fraud Act or Road Traffic Act. If found guilty they can be given a considerable fine and end up with a criminal record. The Blue Badge holder is also contacted and in some cases the badge is withdrawn.

The next car on the fraud team’s hit list was a Toyota Yaris. This vehicle had been brought to the team’s attention through a tip off to their Blue Badge fraud email. Three young men had been seen on numerous occasions getting out of the car before heading off to the butchers where they worked. Like before a ticket was issued and the vehicle towed away. The Badge was issued to an elderly relative of one of the men.

The next car to be towed was a Honda Accord. Like the other two vehicles this was owned by a trader who had opted to use his fathers’ Blue Badge rather than buy a permit. In this case the man was the owner of a silk shop.

We thought that three cars was a good morning’s work so started walking back to the Town Hall. However, on the way back I spotted a very smart looking BMW with a child seat in the back. My first thought was if you were a disabled parent this would not be a very easy car to lift a child in and out of, but a quick call back to the council from Steve and it turned out it was actually the child that was disabled. However, the child was at school and the parents were just using the badge to go shopping to avoid paying the parking fees. This car was not towed to the pound like the others, but a PCN was issued to the vehicle and the owner will need to attend a formal interview.

Back at the Town Hall I met up with Councillor Lorna Campbell who is the Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability. She fully supports the work of the fraud team and is eager for other councils to follow their lead.

In the last four months alone, the fraud team identified 178 separate offences of abuse, removed 60 fraudulently used Blue Badges from circulation and recovered £7,724 in court fines and costs as a result of prosecuting 28 offences.

Ashley Brandon is happy to help other councils in London and councils are only charged for their services at cost price. During 2011, the team worked in partnership with Croydon Council in uncovering 138 offences of Blue Badge fraud, for which there have been more than 10 individuals prosecuted, and a total of 75 fraudulently used badges have been removed from circulation, which equates to a potential saving of around £500k by tackling fraud.

Each Blue Badge can potentially save a driver around £7.5k in parking fees and a further £3.5k in congestion charging over the period of a year. When considering how much local authorities and government agencies can lose this is a good argument for stamping out fraud.

Join our campaign to stamp out Blue Badge fraud

Ideally we would like to see all local authorities tackling fraud in this way. Just issuing a parking ticket is not enough of a deterrent to stop people using other people’s badges, we want people to receive much larger fines and receive criminal records. Blue Badge abuse is not a victimless crime as it stops disabled people from being able to park and get on with their lives.

To help our campaign we would like every member to write to their local MP and ask what they are doing to tackle Blue Badge fraud and explain why it is so important that this issue is addressed. If you don’t know who your local MP is you can find out by visiting www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/ and putting in your postcode.If you’re not sure what to write please see the below template letter. The more MPs who are aware of the issue the more likely local authorities are to take action.

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If you don’t know who your MP is you can find out by visiting www.theyworkforyou.com/mp and then enter your postcode. If you are unsure of what to write please use the below letter as a guide.

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In order to get a fuller picture, they are looking for disabled people to send them their experiences, both good and bad, of travelling on public transport in Britain. You can send in your comments via the ‘No Go Britain’ facebook page on Twitter, using the hash tag #nogobritain. Alternatively, you can upload a video response to their You Tube site.

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3. Policies

This role cover a variety of different activities including maintaining the charity’s membership database, communicating with members and the general public by phone, email and letter and attending roadshows and events accross the UK which may necessitate some overnight stays away.

Candidates will need to be highly organised, have good communications skills, be flexible and have a positive attitude. Candidates will be fully computer literate with excellent MS Office skills. Experience of operating databases and a full driving licence is desirable.

Salary – £18,500 per annum
33 days annual holiday entitlement which includes public/bank holidays
Probationary period – 6 months
Contributory pension scheme after completion of probationary period.
35 hrs/week from 9.00am to 5.00pm with 1 hour lunch break (flexibility required to fit in with external meetings)

Administrator/Information Officer Job Description - 56.5 kBApplication Form - 146.5 kBAdministrator/Information Officer Terms and Conditions - 51 kB

Please call 01508 489 449 or email info@disabledmotoring.org if you have trouble downloading the Job Description, Application Form or Terms and Conditions. Deadline for applications 20/4/12

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