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AIBU?

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Original poster

Disability requirements, Butlins, help!

50 replies

Butlins21 · 05/09/2021 14:37

Pregnant me, DH and disabled toddler DC are due to go to Butlins tomorrow for 4 nights. I was so looking forward to it.

However over the past month (I'm 32 weeks) I've developed terrible SPD, it's become so bad that simple walk to the shop down the road is a struggle due to the pain and now I'm dreading the holiday. I have a support belt and crutches but neither are really helping to be honest. Today it's the worst it's ever been and I'm having to accept that I'm just not going to manage anything on foot.

I was relieved to see that Butlins can provide mobility scooters - until i saw the cost attatched.

They want a £50 deposit then £26 per day which might be affordable to some but it isn't for us. We had to budget for the holiday as it is, paying for the mobility scooter is going to eat into bills and food money so just not feasible.

WIBU to ask if they'd consider waving the rental cost as a good will gesture? I can pay the deposit because I get that back but the daily fee is beyond our means.

Will they laugh me off the phone for being a CF?

There's little point in going otherwise and I may have to cancel which will be shit but we may need to suck it up Sad

WDYT?

OP posts:
sashh · 05/09/2021 15:28

I was going to suggest the red cross, I think I paid £10 deposit and then donated that.

There are places that rent mobility scooters, usually for longer term but see if you can find one near the Butlins you are going to.

www.mobilitygiant.co.uk/t/hire

Original poster
Butlins21 · 05/09/2021 15:30

I just realised that the price chart I was looking at for wheelchairs (£7 per day) was for the minehead branch of Butlins.

At Bognor you have to book through shopmobility which isn't on site and I can't find a price list for them anywhere.

OP posts:
Babyroobs · 05/09/2021 15:42

Yes it's cheeky. I imagine this is the kind of extra cost that disabled people pay for out of their disability benefits. Obviously you can't get that money as your disability is temporary whilst pregnant.

Original poster
Butlins21 · 05/09/2021 15:44

[quote sashh]I was going to suggest the red cross, I think I paid £10 deposit and then donated that.

There are places that rent mobility scooters, usually for longer term but see if you can find one near the Butlins you are going to.

www.mobilitygiant.co.uk/t/hire[/quote]
Thank you Smile

I've looked at that website and it appears they're only available for long term hire.

Will see if there's a red cross close to Bognor Butlins.

OP posts:
Original poster
Butlins21 · 05/09/2021 15:45

@Babyroobs

Yes it's cheeky. I imagine this is the kind of extra cost that disabled people pay for out of their disability benefits. Obviously you can't get that money as your disability is temporary whilst pregnant.
You're right of course.

I'm not going to be asking.

OP posts:
nowwhat50 · 05/09/2021 15:48

Maybe look on your local Facebook marketplace for a Rollator? Or you could hire one for a lot less than a scooter. Self propelled wheelchairs are not generally available for hire. I have one. Had to do a driving test for it and everything, quite a faff.

Or you could order from Argos and many extra use their credit facility?

Disability requirements, Butlins, help!
nowwhat50 · 05/09/2021 15:49

*maybe Hmm

MintMatchmaker · 05/09/2021 15:53

Would your husband take your son and you could have a few days rest?

PileOfBooks · 05/09/2021 15:55

We had the same at Alton Towers. Ive just paid £25 for hire for one for a day. It was truly game changing. You absolutely cannot have free hire (not when by definition everyone hiring will have some form of disability...) but I think you know that.

What about hiring for one or two of the days... and having a day sat in the pool/cafe etc while your partner takes DS about?

PoorCatto · 05/09/2021 15:57

Could you source a second hand mobility scooter through local selling pages to take with you. You could then also use it when you get home for the rest of your pregnancy and then sell it on so you would have the initial outlay but could recoup most of your money.

mumwon · 05/09/2021 16:02

www.shopmob1.plus.com/products.htm

Original poster
Butlins21 · 05/09/2021 16:08

[quote mumwon]www.shopmob1.plus.com/products.htm[/quote]
Oh thank you! I couldn't find a price list anywhere, very helpful.

The scooters aren't that much more expensive than the wheelchairs there, that's good - there was a big hike between the prices of the two at the minehead mobility store.

Joint membership with the Bognor Regis Shopmobility sheme £10.00

Any idea what this means as it's not clear to me, is this on top of a deposit or instead of?

OP posts:
GreenTortoise · 05/09/2021 16:14

I wouldn't cancel the holiday. Butlins are usually pretty good at accommodating in all honesty.

You don't ask you don't get and they might help you out.

We go to Minehead and day trips to Bognor and the hire shops have always been helpful.

Couchbettato · 05/09/2021 16:32

I had SPD from 9 weeks pregnant which just got worse as my baby got bigger. By 32 weeks I was having to use mobility scooters to shop round ASDA. I couldn't get 10 foot without either unintentionally doing the splits or welling up with tears as my pelvis locked and my hips popped.

I would cancel the holiday. I would book a caravan holiday for after the baby is born.

My SPD didn't go away for almost a year, and it's still sore if I sleep on my side. Though most people's stops once their baby is born and your ligaments stop being so loose.

youdoyoutoday · 05/09/2021 16:50

Just ask, the worst is they say no, and if they say yes, just don't brag about it other people as then you'll give more grief to the staff who said yes doing you a kind turn.

ghostfacers · 05/09/2021 16:53

*Joint membership with the Bognor Regis Shopmobility sheme £10.00

Any idea what this means as it's not clear to me, is this on top of a deposit or instead of?*

From a quick scan read of the site, I would imagine it is on top of, as you have to be a member to hire and make a deposit, IYSWIM
Hope you get sorted, OP.

WiddlinDiddlin · 05/09/2021 17:22

Ring shopmobility and ask, it's a subsidized hire scheme so nowhere near what Butlins would charge.

nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut · 05/09/2021 17:26

What about one of those frame things with a seat on it? Would you be able to manage on foot if you could stop and sit as and when you needed?

Original poster
Butlins21 · 05/09/2021 17:51

Thank you all Smile

I accept it's unreasonable of me to ask them to waver the cost of the scooter, even more so now as I know they're from an independent company and not Butlins itself. Plonker here was looking at the minehead hire leaflet at first.

I'm going to give shopmobility a call tomorrow morning and have a chat about a scooter or chair (if they have self propelled ones)

A roller with seat is also something worth considering as it means I'll be able to rest when nessecary, so thanks for that idea PP.

I can see that their store is only 5 minutes from the Butlins grounds so DH would be able to go down and collect for me, that will save the delivery cost.

We're going to go ahead with the holiday for DS as he's so excited, will make sure he has a great time regardless even if I have to sit out of some of it in the hotel.

OP posts:
FleasInMyKnees · 05/09/2021 17:55

Their website says it's free delivery and collection to Butlins but do check. Have a fab holiday.

dancingthroughthedark · 05/09/2021 18:04

Might be a little late to try but do you have a local Next Door group? When I broke my ankle a few months back I asked on ours if anyone could lend me a chair and was inundated with offers not just of a chair but all sorts of other help and support. I was quite overwhelmed by people's kindness.

mumwon · 05/09/2021 18:05

Op I just did a search for west sussex & it came up a few lines down -I hope it works for you
Have a good time op! (take a day out to Arundel, Chichester or down to Portsmouth?)

Smileyaxolotl1 · 05/09/2021 18:06

On the towel thing - I’m assuming the person meant they don’t provide towels for swimming.
In the accommodation it will depend what grade you have booked. X

Warrickdaviesasplates · 05/09/2021 18:39

@Smileyaxolotl1

On the towel thing - I’m assuming the person meant they don’t provide towels for swimming. In the accommodation it will depend what grade you have booked. X
It may have been for swimming... I can't remember very well as it was a couple of years ago. Perhaps we weren't allowed to bring towels from the room to the pool, I just remember having to go down to Tesco and buy towels.

We did stay in the same hotel as the op which is why I thought I'd mention it. We were also on w strict budget and I was pretty annoyed.

MorganKitten · 05/09/2021 18:51

@Babyroobs

Yes it's cheeky. I imagine this is the kind of extra cost that disabled people pay for out of their disability benefits. Obviously you can't get that money as your disability is temporary whilst pregnant.
As someone with a disabled parent, it’s not covered by the disability benefit money, that hardly covers anything, we have to pay top up on pretty much everything.
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