Hi everyone ,
I have recently bought a fiat scudo which is able to take wheelchair passengers , i bought it because the council would only issue a plate if the vehicle had wheelchair access .
i have encountered lots of problems and am unsure of the law , the council and the cab firm are not interested the attitude is you have the vehicle so you have got to do the job.
firstly some passengers are very heavy and pushing them up the ramps then trying to turn them around in the cab could easily damage my back, the carers dont help because it is not part of their job,
secondly a lot of the people are very fragile and need to be treated very gently which is not possible if you have to shove them up a couple of ramps and put them in the back of a van
thirdly the ramps are in a fixed position so if you go to a job and the chair is not a standard nhs type chair it wont fit on the ramps , obviously i know that in those cases i cant take them but in order to find that out i would have already driven to the job x miles away
fourthly sometimes the passengers are too big to turn round and insist on traveling sideways
so they can not by strapped in ,who is responsable for them being sfeley strapped in ???
it seems to me that the whole thing is a complete can of worms ,and i am not sure if its just because i am inexperienced at carrying them at the moment ,or the whole thing is a potential nightmare.
any advice how do other drivers see the situation  and do you have any special insurance etc.
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