[ChrisK]

A question about the loading and unloading of a fully assembled pavement scooter when out and about.

I’ve found a problem on a few occasions while unloading then consequences reloading my scooter into the car and just wonder if other have this problem and can the installers fix it.

The problem, if the car is on perfectly level ground there is no problem but if there’s a dip behind the car (usually a drainage gutter) of more than what seems a thousandth of an inch the scooter does not reach the ground and still bears all the weight on the loading fixing.

Yesterday I had while in a garden centre blue badge space that seem to be as flat as a pancake had the scooter bearing weight on the fixing and the only way to release the scooter was for myself to lift the back with my one useful arm while bearing the weight on my one useful leg and my carer wife releasing the fixing eyes.

My thinking is the hoist should lower an inch or two lower than flat level ground taking in the height of the scooter.

It could be just my particular scooter as there no room for adjustment on the cross member with the lifting eyes on because my scooter has suspension built into the seat stem but that beside surly the hoist should be able just to go that bit lower as I assume they work by some sort of worm drive and not cable.

Does anyone else get this problem and can they lower their scooter below the ground level of the car even if its only a millimetre? ?

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[vinalspin]

It should be set to go at least 6 inches below level ground to allow for parking on inclines either way, I think your best bet is to either contact the fitting firm or speak to Motability and have them get it touch to have it recalibrated correctly.

[ChrisK]

Thanks Vinalspin, that’s my thoughts.

The installers are right over the opposite side of the city from where I am but yes your right, best bet to get in touch with them. If I find myself passing there way the next few weeks I will drop in for a word and to be fair they did say I could drop-in anytime if I had problems.

Just wanted to make sure I’m not asking something silly.

Talking about asking or looking silly, in February I was on the seafront at Swanage in Dorset and I reversed into a none Blue Badge space on the seafront there. It was a nice sunny day, cold but bright and there were loads of old folk (like me but not disabled) sitting along the path there watching me lowering the scooter to the ground but it was still 3 or 4 inches off the ground when the hoist stopped at its limit. After scratching my head for a minute I decided a fault must have developed in the hoist so loaded it back up and dismantled it into four manageable pieces where I reassembled it on the ground. After that I was knackered but at least I’m on my way so I go down the road a hundred feet to a dropped kerb and drive onto the pavement and back to the wife waiting by the car and it now I noticed that the rear passenger side wheel had mounted the pavement hence why the scooter would not reach the ground. ?‍♂️

I asked the wife why she did not tell me the wheel was on the pavement and she said she did but like always I took no notice of her. ?

When I got back to the car 30 minutes later a couple of the old folk came over and ask if I needed a hand to get the scooter back on board and I had to admit to them that the hoist will now work perfectly well now both back wheels are on the road. ?

 

[ChrisK]

Just a quick update on this, the guy from Brookfields Mobility Solutions in Bristol came to my house yesterday and adjusted one of the lifting arms on the hoist and it now seem to work OK now. My idea that the worm drive of the hoist could be adjusted to lower the scooter below the ground level of the car is wrong and they can’t be adjusted and the only way to get anything to work outside of the specification of the hoist lifting height is to adjust the rigging of the hoist. My car (KIA Carens) has a backdoor that’s at the limit a hoist (and my particular scooter) can handle so something I now know what to lookout for next car.

The problem I had that I’ve mentioned above only caused me problems 1 out of 10 times using the hoist but the scooter lays better in the car now but only used the hoist once since yesterday so early days but I just thought I’d say the company above were very helpful and nothing was to much trouble and he said if I’m still not happy, give a call and they will be round.

[vinalspin]

Good to hear you got it sorted Chris.

[garry]

Hi @ChrisK

I have a similar problem occasionally if I have to park on an incline, I have solved this problem by lowering the rear wheel of the scooter (the one furthest away from the tailgate) onto a piece of polystyrene packing that  I had in the car at the time.

Mine is a 3 wheeled scooter so just packing under the one rear wheel works for me.

With your problem of being at the limit of your hoist for adjustment, making some kind of lightweight platform for under both rear wheels might be a better solution for you.

 

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