‘Struggling’ Sheffield pensioner demands answers after being blocked from keeping ‘lifeline’ scooter at home

In a written question submitted prior to a meeting of the full council in Sheffield yesterday (September 5), Linda Harrison of Scraith Wood Drive, Shirecliffe, asked about the council’s policy on allowing mobility scooters to be kept in the hallways of communal blocks.

She asked why it had changed in the last two years so she could no longer keep her scooter in a communal hallway “despite it not blocking a fire escape or getting in anyone’s way”.

Ms Harrison was told (in writing) that the policy had not changed since 2015 and her case would be looked into by officers.

Ms Harrison turned up at the full council meeting and asked a supplementary question in which she told members that she had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease that makes breathing difficult, and she needed a scooter on a daily basis.

Ms Harrison told the chamber that she was told initially she could have one but then she later heard back from a council officer who said she couldn’t,

“I don’t know why,” Ms Harrison said.

She said she had wanted an 8mph scooter so she could go shopping but she was now happy to get one which only goes four or five miles per hour.

She said was told that she would need a shed for a scooter and it would cost a lot of money, as well as the electricity to power it, but she said that was “fair enough”, and she was willing to pay.

She asked: “I’m asking this council: how much longer have I got to wait so I have permission so I can go and get myself a scooter?”

She told the members that she was “struggling so very very much” and she needed some help.

From the council, Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the housing policy committee, said Ms Harrison’s question triggered some “very important issues for us” and the council will have to look into the policy again.

He said the policy had been untouched since 2015 and no one really knew what the policy really was.

Coun Johnson said as a result of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, there was going to be a lot of scrutiny about fire safety.

He said: “Fire safety issues are what drive this sort of hostility towards people having electric scooters in flats.”

Coun Johnson said the council has to balance that against the facts that mobility scooters are “an absolute lifeline for people” and it’s fundamental that disabled people who rely on scooters can use those to get out.

He offered to talk to Ms Harrison talk to her about her situation in private after the meeting.