Shopmobility Wrexham invited Councillor Mark Pritchard, Leader of Wrexham Council and Councillor Nigel Williams, Lead Member for Economy and Regeneration to celebrate the launch of Saturday openings. Shopmobility Wrexham offers mobility scooters to everyone who needs them. From small scooters that can fit into a car boot, all the way up to scooters that can take 35 stone. These are available for hire for a day, and some can be booked for longer periods (for example, for a holiday). They will now be trialling opening for 1 Saturday of every month. Booking Essential. to book, contact [email protected] or call on 01978 312390 Dawn Roberts McCabe (Chief Officer, AVOW), Pete Howell (Chair of Trustees, AVOW) and David McDonald (Shopmobility Manager) met with the Councillors to talk about this new and exciting development, and the amazing transformation of Shopmobility Wrexham over the last 2 years. On Tuesday the 5th of March, the two council members visited Shopmobility Wrexham to see the difference that AVOW have made to the project. They met with Dawn Roberts-McCabe (Chief Officer, AVOW), Pete Howell (Chair of Trustees, AVOW), and David McDonald (Shopmobility Manager). They heard about the massive improvement that had been made to Shopmobility over the last wo years, moving from being only open 2 days a week to being open 5 days a week. David spoke about the ways in which they are raising the profile of Shopmobility even further – being involved in Shopmobility Roadshows where they take the scooters to clubs and organisations to try to break down the stigma and barriers to renting scooters. David spoke about how many more people were now using the service. From 433 scooter highers between May-September 2023 on two days opening, up to 704 between October 2023 and February 2024. During 2022/2023 Shopmobility gained 41 new members, and 2023/2024 they have so far gained 53 new members, and expect that number to continue to grow even in these last few weeks. The Councillors spoke about how important that the service was to Wrexham, and the difference that it was making to people’s daily lives. David was keen to make this service available to even more people, and Shopmobility is now open one Saturday a month. This will coincides with events like the new artisan markets in Wrexham, and opens up this new market to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access it. This new service requires booking in advance to ensure a scooter, and isn’t yet available to drop-ins, but David is hopeful that if this trial is successful that they will be able to secure grants to enable this.
Councillor Mark Pritchard, Leader of Wrexham Council and Disability Champion, said: “This is an excellent service which has been offered by Shopmobility to the people of Wrexham and individuals who visit the city. “I was pleased to see that the partnership working on the car parking adjacent to Shopmobillity has been successful, and this is now dedicated to disabled only parking. “I’m also really pleased that they are now offering a service on the first Saturday of each month, and I hope that it continues to be successful and the service is eventually offered every Saturday in the future. “The Shopmobility manager David McDonald’s enthusiasm shone through and I’d like to thank him and his colleagues for all their hard work and commitment in improving the service and taking it forward.” – Cllr Mark Pritchard Leader of Wrexham Council and Disability Champion
The counsellors then explored the Scooter shed and spoke about the different types of scooters that were available. David showed the various types of scooters for all types of needs, from scooters that collapse down into the boot, to the bigger scooters that Shopmobility has available. David also showed the new disability pushchairs that Shopmobility has available. The Councillors were keen to talk about the parking for blue-badge holders that had been allocated outside of Shopmobility, and if that was making a difference. David spoke about how it made it much easier for those with limited mobility to access the city centre. Cllr Nigel Williams was keen to get Shopmobility Wrexham on Wrexham’s new VZTA app, part of building a smart town ecosystem for Wrexham City. The councillors spoke at length with Dawn Roberts-McCabe, Pete Howell, and David McDonald, speaking about the challenges and joys of operating the Shopmobility service. They spoke about ideas for the future, and how David is in conversation with event organisers to find a way to provide mobility scooters for events such as Focus Wales, and the Armistice Day.
“We at AVOW are very proud of everything that Shopmobility, and David and his team has achieved”. Dawn Roberts-McCabe
Shopmobility Wrexham to Trial Opening
1 Saturday a Month
English (UK)