Mandatory license and insurance for mobility scooters

Just got a quick quote for a mobility scooter - seems very reasonable to me!

So much this. While I occasionally meet people who restore my faith in humanity, the majority of those I encounter in my chair leave a lot to be desired. I’ve also had to stop using one of the local supermarkets because the customers there take ableism to new lows.

I agree with you - your scooter is still legal as a Class 3 on the road in the event of your licence not being renewed. Obviously, check with somebody who isn't a random on the internet - maybe the place you bought it from or where it's insured, but I think the .gov website is pretty clear on it.

Lots of people who come in on a regular basis like a chat. I know far more about their lives than any doctor they see. Right now, there is a man who bought a mobility scooter 3 years ago when he had very minor (his words) mobility problems. As of last week, he was 6 stone heavier, has real breathing difficulties which he has said came on 2 years ago and he is a new patient in the cardio clinic. I would be surprised if he sees 2025. He is 52.

But don't worry. My post has been deleted, your virtue has been signalled and I am sure that poor man is now well on the way to recovery.

Sadly just about to purchase a mobility scooter. I have driven a car for about 35 years with only one accident (white van man ran in to the back of me - I was stationary, indicating to turn off). As such I believe I’ll be fine however I will be getting insurance as I feel it should be a requirement- same with ebikes and cyclists.

It’s really not convenient at all. The first time I go out with anyone in an urban environment I get the same comment at the end of the trip: I didn’t realise how inaccessible things actually are. Most people don’t even register that they are stepping up and down or slipping round an obstacle, when I have a 22 inch wide wheelchair and have to navigate steps, compensate for camber and visually assess which gaps are practicable and which will force me to go back and find another route.

I love my chair but it’s not fun. Just more fun than being a recluse.

Some teenagers in my area used to play a game whenever I tried picking up my young children from school, where they would pretend to walk past me and suddenly push each other into me. They broke my wrist and the police and school were involved. This isn't the worst thing people have done to me.
Something very heavy fell on my head once while at a meal and knocked me our. The ambulance can't take a non folding wheelchair so my partner had to ride my chair home. A bunch of teenagers started throwing stolen Halloween pumpkins and setting fireworks off at him. He said he's never been abused in the street before and not being able to dodge out of the way was horrible. He had to go past them twice due to pavement parking. People regularly ram me with prams or accidentally on purpose hit me with bags on the bus because they were asked to move. I would give anything to be able to walk more than a couple of meters without falling. If someone said they used a scooter for fun I would be so bemused 😄

Add an adult male weight into a bicycle weight and a speed of 30 mph- I know what I’d rather be hit with - neither!

Would you support the same for pedal bikes, e bikes and e scooters?

If not, why not?

No I haven’t used one I would prefer a car I have a health condition that causes pain in my joints but I am wondering why no one uses them for fun or even convenience. But actually maybe it isn’t so convenient as you say

Yes, there should be some sort of education and then a suitability test prior to acquisition. Learning how to use a scooter safely and then assessing capability cannot do any harm. The insurance would probably need to be government backed to make it affordable.

I think anyone trying to use any disability aide for fun would find that it stops becoming fun when your life is made more difficult, and you're treated like scum by people who think it's OK to abuse you in the street. Have you tried to get anywhere solely by scooter or wheelchair?

Completely agree.

Years of cleaning corridors & waiting rooms gives you a long term clinical relationship with people to be able to say with authority that they only have minor mobility issues and their dietary habits? I know the NHS is strapped for cash and staff, but I'm not entirely convinced you're going to be employed in a position to know the extent of joint erosion, neurological pain, heart failure, kidney function or presence of bony metastases in the patients because they've got you doing the clinic appointments, rather than emptying the clinic bins.

Very well said!

Your poor son, hope he was ok.
Accidents do of course happen, but her attitude was terrible. She should have stopped, apologised, check he was OK and given you her contact details in case you wished to make a personal injury claim

Who can use mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs
You can only drive a mobility scooter or powered wheelchair if one of the following applies:

1. you have trouble walking because of an injury, physical disability or medical condition
2. you’re taking the vehicle to or from maintenance or repair
3. you’re the manufacturer testing the vehicle
4. you’re demonstrating the vehicle before it’s sold
5. you’re training a disabled user

https://www.gov.uk/mobility-scooters-and-powered-wheelchairs-rules

But I expect that a lot of people disregard this anyway.

As a powered wheelchair user with a maximum speed of 4mph - I did have a driving assessment by NHS wheelchair services. That's besides the point. Sad to hear what happened to your colleague but that's an anecdote. The vast majority of scooter and wheelchair users use them safely and most of us have our own stories to tell about bipeds walking or crashing into us by accident or on purpose.

Anyone issued a powered wheelchair on the nhs has to undertake a 'driving test' to show they are safe and competent to drive it. They get approved for indoors only or indoors and outdoors. I have lots of children on my caseload who (quite rightly) were denied one as would have been unsafe for both them and others.
Parents can of course choose to purchase privately, and this is unregulated

Thanks for your response and for linking me to your later post. I have checked on the gov.uk website and see that the bit about needing a driving licence only applies if your mobility scooter is not in either class 2 or class 3. (Mine is class 3). So my understanding is that I can drive it on the road. (I currently have a driving licence, but may not get this renewed when it expires (due to disability, it does need to be renewed soon).

Do you mind me asking if your understanding is the same as mine, since you seem to have a good knowledge of this subject?

Thanks again.

Totally ridiculous . If someone hurts you on a mobility scooter, cycle, scooter , walking you can still claim compensation. It happens so rarely that legislating is pointless (and enforcement would cost a huge amount)

I hope this doesn’t out me. When my oldest was 4 he got knocked over by a woman on a mobility scooter. He was holding my hand and she crashed into us/him. We were walking in a pedestrian only high street.

Miraculously he only got scrapes and bruises. The woman saw and continued. With a dismissive wave of the hand. I was shocked a member of public scooped by son up as he got pushed into her legs. I ran after the woman she was vile and swore at me. I took her keys out and dropped them down the drain. The police were called, I got a talking to she got nothing. Hope she didn’t have spare keys.

After numerous accidents in my area the local council and the local PCSOs put on some basic training and safety advice sessions for mobility scooters . It was very popular but sadly had to stop due to lack of funding. I do think it's a good idea to have some sort of instruction for newbies

As an electric wheelchair user, anyone suggesting my top speed of 4mph should be limited to 2.5mph can fuck right off. Mine was prescribed by the wheelchair service, is only issued with guidance and a demonstration of my ability to use it, and is my literal legs when I’m out and about. And given that the urban environment is often lacking the adjustments that make it accessible for wheelchair users, such as dropped kerbs, and enforcing a ban on pavement parking, such that I often have to double back on myself and travel far further than a pedestrian for the same journey, that 4mph is absolutely necessary to not lose even more time just trying to get from A to B. I am also constantly having to be more aware of my surroundings than almost any other pedestrian, continually having to plan my path metres ahead according to the people and obstacles I see.

I have to navigate an environment that includes pedestrians who won’t look up from their phone, runners who run in front of my wheels forcing a stop because they’re too arrogant to go round, cyclists likewise, people who end up in my lap because despite me shouting to alert them and physically stopping my chair, they still keep walking towards me, those who swing their bags round and catch me on the head or shoulder… and the list goes on.

That’s before you take into account the revolting ignorance and ableism of other shoppers and shop staff when you try to navigate your way round to do your shopping. Don’t lay hands on my chair to push me out of your way: ask me to move. Don’t look around for my carer rather than address me directly, or talk to my son/husband instead of me because you’ve assumed I’m not mentally competent to understand you. And don’t act like an egotistical prick by throwing yourself into the space you can see me aiming for by the shelf or fridge for fear that I’ll force you to wait 5 seconds for whatever it was you wanted, and placing yourself at risk of being driven into.

I am also sick to death of having to point out to supermarket management that placing a pallet of wine or beer bottles perpendicular to the end of the veg counter means that a wheelchair user and wheelchair trolley can no longer reach the veg at the end without risk of taking out the display, for example.

So I’ll tell you what. I will accept the need for insurance and a speed restriction below 4mph when we have removed all obstacles to accessibility and people treat us as human beings. I’ll take that bet because it will never fucking happen.

Can anyone use a mobility scooter just for fun? Why don’t more do it just for the hell of it