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AIBU?

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Original poster

To want to scream that Motability cars are NOT FREE!!!!!

254 replies

Mamaz0n · 16/05/2011 19:48

Ihave just seen a programme on the BBC where they have yet again claimed someone recieved a "free car"

No they fucking didnt!

They have been given a lease hire vehicle under the motability scheme. It is not their car, they DO PAY for it and it is only for a certain period of time.

It pisses me off that people assume that being disabled is a sweet life with loads of freebies.
It isn't. far from it.

you would expect the BBC at least to get it right.

OP posts:
HRHShoesytwoesy · 16/05/2011 22:32

sadly I think a lot of people would rather people who need help getting around just didn't go out.

BoffinMum · 16/05/2011 22:33

FWIW it was cheaper for me to buy a new family car NOT on the motability scheme than to trade in my DLA for one. I don't know how people afford those cars with their mahoosive down payments and mileage caps.

cliveclown · 16/05/2011 22:34

They don't get given the money to pay for it. They get a contribution to the costs of disabled living which is nowhere near enough to cover it. Who pays for the petrol for example? Or the excess on a hire car?

whyme2 · 16/05/2011 22:35

As someone who has worked with people with disabilities I know of no instances when an alternative vehicle was offered after a breakdown. If the RAC can't help then you are left to sort out repairs with the dealership and this can take days or weeks.
The needs of the person for whom the car is for are not taken into account.
No car = can't go out. Whether it is an appt or a holiday or a shopping trip.
One lady had to wait three weeks - and she had a small car with no adaptations.

I do suspect the clown is playing games.

HRHShoesytwoesy · 16/05/2011 22:35

you can get a grant to help pay for very expensive adaptions,

thefirstMrsDeVere · 16/05/2011 22:39

Why would anyone apply for DLA if they didnt have to/need it?

I know I wouldnt. I would be so happy to just use the bloody form to line the budgie's cage.

Why do people think its fun to jump through hoops and feel like crap, be reminded how ill/disabled/limited you/your loved one is, worry incase its all going to be changed because apparently ASD/MS/MD can suddenly get better Hmm, have to tell strangers that your child is going to die and how and why and please could you have some money if you promise they really are going to die in the time alloted to someone who is classed as 'terminal'

I would like to see stats on how the applying for and renewing of DLA affects the mood/mental health of the applicants.

Actually I dont need to see stats. I am pretty sure I have it right..

cliveclown · 16/05/2011 22:40

And how do the rac help you? They also work as a rental broker for the motability scheme. Don't be dumb, as if because I don't appreciate someone who is fat taking a car from someone with no legs, that I've invented an entire ludicrous scenario about disabled people in hire cars to go with it!

Glitterknickaz · 16/05/2011 22:42

Actually if people want the 'free money' so badly why don't they go have some kind of 'accident' so they're unable to walk or something?

Or is it really not that 'cushy' to be disabled after all?

HRHShoesytwoesy · 16/05/2011 22:43

thefirstMrsDeVere you are not wrong, It is one of the most depressing things I have ever doen, instead of being upbeat and concentrating on what dd can do, I have to concentrate on what she can't which is a much longer list, I also have to compare her to a nt child of her age, oh the joy, thank god at last they have realised she is never going to get better and have given her an indefinite award(ok that will only last untill our kind pm takes dla away)

Original poster
Mamaz0n · 16/05/2011 22:43

only if you are on very low income or qualifying benefits Shoesy.

OP posts:
HRHShoesytwoesy · 16/05/2011 22:44

oh I know, but I just thought I should be fair and point it out.

Birdsgottafly · 16/05/2011 22:52

clive- i have worked extensively in healthcare. I have seen people 'balloon' after needing a peg feed fitted, they can no longer eat. I have also seen people have limb apputations because of addiction, you cannot start to judge one person more worthy than another. You are quite a sad person and those you work with if you took pleasure from 'puffing out' your cheeks. Its very rare i name call, but you are pathetic.

DontCallMePeanut · 16/05/2011 22:55

Clive, your views on "fat" people genuinely scare me.

My best friend used to be pretty damn slender. Until she developed a problem, which, at the moment I can't remember the name of, but it caused her weight to baloon. She eats a healthy diet, has tried consistently to lose weight, is as active as she can be with her condition, but she cannot fall under a certain weight. It's not because she stuffs her face with McDonald's (she's a vegetarian) It's not because she's lazy. It's because of this damn problem.

Someone with your attitude should not, if you are to be believed, be working in a job which requires you to provide a service to those on the motability scheme.

thekidsrule · 16/05/2011 23:12

but edwardorericcantdecide

if i read your answer about paying for mobility right and your mother offering you her mobility car and you make the financial commitment that would be abusing the mobility scheme and thus claiming wrongly, as i understand you can use that car but only to service the disabled person not for your own personal use and its not to be used other than for the disabled persons needs,so if thats the case thats taking the mick

i know you didnt take the offer up and obtained a loan for your own car in your own right but only by the sounds because other ways were cheaper

how many others do this,thats wrong

Peachy · 16/05/2011 23:12

WRT to the fat thing, is someone who ahs eaten enough to be that big truly going to be compeltely NT, especially wrt to mental health? Seriosuly?

Dad isn;t big enough to nmeed bariatric products but is big enough to have associated health issues. It's so obvious why; 15th of 16 children, Grandad and alkie and Nan bedridden - they ate what tehy could catch or steal and if you were not quick enough you didn't eat; some pretty severe mental health effects from what I can determine.

One thing I learned during many years working in the social field: there's always, but always, a bacl story. People who are OK and like themselves don't eat themselves to death / get pregnanct at 14 / insert whatever.

Lodonone if theya re getting teh DLA Mobility then they need it to access that work, so take the mobility cr and you end up paying it back when they cannot get to work AND you lose the tax they pay, end up paying HB / etc etc...... It's an investment towards independence and contributing for many.

Birdsgottafly · 16/05/2011 23:28

We have disability benefits in place in the UK because it was identified that disabled people are at greater risk of poverty than those in identical circumstances but who were not disabled. Those that work earn less on average and have to spend more, if they are disabled. This was not given overnight, it has been fought for hard for decades, by right thinking people. The Uk has been moving in the right direction since 1995 in regards to disabled people.

For those that seem to want disabled people pushed out of society, tough it isn't going to happen (not even to the 'fatties'), so get over it.

Pixel · 16/05/2011 23:30

My friend has a motability car which she recently backed into a wall, smashing the rear lights. She has been given an adapted courtesy car to use while it is being repaired so I know it does happen.

Pixel · 16/05/2011 23:36

And it's not a teeny car either, it's a massive mercedes as that's all they had left with hand controls.

manicinsomniac · 16/05/2011 23:49

I can't see why the cars shouldn't be free personally.

Until I tried to go out in London with a disabled friend I hadn't realised just how few tube trains and buses are wheelchair accessible. Nightmare. I don't think a basic car for local runs that most of us could walk or bus is that big an ask tbh.

cliveclown · 16/05/2011 23:52

It does happen and it also happens where a lot of the larger cars which people need to fit wheelchairs in get taken by people who need them to fit their fat behinds in. I did actually care about my job and it was hard to know that I have failed someone when they desperately needed my help. I think the same is true with anyone who works with the public and sees time wasters ruining it for other people. And yes, there really actually are people who just eat until they're so fat they're disabled. They also get free hoists, special medical aid etc and are a massive drain on the nhs. I find that annoying.

Anyway, I'm off up my imaginary stairs to sleep in my pretend bed.

Birdsgottafly · 16/05/2011 23:58

clive- you do that, as i said i have an extensive background in social/health care and i get to know peoples medical background. You are talking rubbish.

takethisonehereforastart · 17/05/2011 01:48

My friend is disabled and her husband is her carer.

She qualifies for a car but they do have to pay towards it with her DLA and as tribpot said, they also have had to pay for the modifications they need to help her cope with her wheelchair etc (£500 this time for some kind of ramp). They have to take what is on offer at the time, a very basic model usually, and pay more if they need to upgrade the size to cope with her wheelchair etc.

It's not free at all. YANBU.

HecateQueenOfTheNight · 17/05/2011 06:45

Clive, it's just so very amazingly impressive that you are able to tell which very fat people are very fat because they are greedy and have eaten themselves into that state and which are very fat because of a medical condition / as a side effect of drugs for a different medical condition / fat is a symptom of some other medical condition / the 'fat' is actually terrible terrible swelling from, for example, kidney failure and they've got moon face from being on steroids, etc etc. in order for you to mock those who deserve it cos they're those rotten greedy pigs and for you to be sympathetic and helpful to those who are suffering through no fault of their own, even though simply looking at them, they look the same.

That is really amazing. How on earth do you do it? Can you diagnose other conditions too? I think you should become a doctor and help the world. You could do so much good. Can you, like, look through people's skin to see tumours and things too?

You're so fantastic. I'm in awe of you. I think we should build a statue in your honour and leave offerings in front of it every day.

Morloth · 17/05/2011 07:13

You would think, given how good all these disabled people have it, that there would be lots of people deliberately injuring themselves severely so that they too can cash in.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 17/05/2011 08:54

As I understand it the car can be used for things other than for the 'disabled person'

For example. I have to do the shopping and take the kids out. We happen to have a second car, left over from when DD was ill. It would make no practical sense to get rid of it. It will end up being scrapped (sob).

But if we didnt have a second car would I be expected to do the shopping on the bus whilst the car sits outside the house? Or take the kids to a hosptial appt on the bus etc?

What about parents who have children in school. Are they only allowed to use the car to pick up and drop of the child and at weekends?
Disabled people have families. If the motobility car can not be used as a family car it somewhat defeats the object. It would mean that many families would have to have two cars.

I cant fit all the kids in mine so I have to use OH's sometimes and I cant fit the shopping in mine (its full of work toys) so I usually take it shopping. I cant drag OH round the supermarket just to make it 'legal'

The days of 'invalid' cars are long gone thank God. The ones with only room for ONE person because disabled people never get married, have relationships or children.

The scenrio described about the mum offering the car to a relative would be clearly breaking the rules though.

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