Wellbeing

Useful tips for driving your Quingo scooter

Today, the Quingo team wants to give you a few points to bear in mind when driving your scooter, which will help you have the best possible experience, whilst retaining maximum levels of security and comfort.

Quingo Scooters
The Quingo team share some useful tips on driving your Quingo

 

What you need to know before driving your Quingo

Before purchasing your Quingo, an advisor will have talked you through everything you need to know to ensure you have the safest and most enjoyable experience.

Here’s an outline of some of the key points to consider:

  1. Before driving your Quingo, make sure you get comfortable. Remember – you should always place your feet on the footplates.
  2. At this point, you can switch your Quingo on and check to see if the battery level indicator is in the green area. If not, you should charge your Quingo. We’ve written a useful guide to charging your Quingo’s batteries on this blog.
  3. Pull in your right hand accelerator lever slowly for your vehicle to move off. The more you pull the lever, the faster your Quingo will go. As you get more accustomed to the lever’s functionality, you can increase the speed.
  4. To brake, release the lever. If you become unsure or if you feel unsafe then release the lever.
  5. When turning, slow down and look in the direction you wish to travel. If you come up to a blind corner you should sound your horn.
  6. If you’re taking any new medication it’s very important that you check with your doctor or physician that your ability to drive your Quingo won’t be affected.
  7. To get off your Quingo, make sure that you’ve stopped safely on a flat area. Remember to turn off the ignition and remove the key before getting off.

Maximum safety and comfort on your travels

We want you to have as safe and enjoyable experience as possible on your journeys; following these points will help you get the most out your Quingo 5 wheel scooter. This information can also be found in your Quingo’s handbook & service manual.

To read the Highway Code regarding mobility scooters you can visit gov.uk to find out more about the rules governing driving mobility scooters both on the road and on pavements.

News

Companies promise to act after BBC’s disabled access exposé

The Quingo team recently read that some large UK firms have undertaken urgent measures to improve their services for people with disabilities. The news follows a BBC London investigation that exposed several failures in this area.

Taking measures to improve accessibility

As part of the investigation, a blind person and a wheelchair user wore secret cameras to document cafes without ramps, minicab drivers that refused to accept guide dogs and train station staff not present when assistance was required. More than 100 restaurants are now being audited for their accessibility. The news comes after the government ordered the companies to explain their failings.

Quingo Scooters

Last autumn, researchers from the BBC found unusable tables or inadequate or missing ramps at branches of Costa Coffee, Itsu, Eat, Chipotle, Caffé Nero, Caffé Concerto and the Post Office.

Mark Harper MP, Minister for Disabled People, singled out the response from restaurant chain Eat as being particularly worthy of praise. The chain has put in place new training and all of its 113 UK stores have been audited to ensure they’re accessible.

What action has been taken?

Sarah Doyle, Eat’s brand director, said: “We were mortified. Therefore when we saw that footage we took it very seriously and undertook to investigate. We’ve asked all our shop teams to check the equipment is there and we have put in place replacement equipment if it was required.”

Itsu acknowledged improvements to staff training and accessibility needed to be made. They said that an external accessibility firm would be employed to ensure that the necessary changes were put in place to cater for a wider range of customers including mobility scooter users.

Caffé Concerto said that it was changing some of its branches having realised that they weren’t sufficiently accessible, whilst Costa Coffee said that the ramp problems highlighted by the BBC’s investigation have been fixed.

Finding adequate solutions

Southeastern Rail also expressed concern with the issues uncovered by the BBC, saying that the relevant station managers had been informed of the need for change.

Organisations are obliged by law to take all necessary steps so as to comply with the Equality Act. As a result of this investigation, it seems that tangible progress is being made.

These positive changes will no doubt be welcomed by Quingo Scooter users. Large companies in particular should have the resources and budget to ensure their stores are sufficiently accessible.

What we can expect in the future

At Quingo, mobility and accessibility are priorities for us. We believe it’s crucially important that those with limited mobility have access to the same services as anyone else. As such, we welcome the efforts taken by many of the companies highlighted in the BBC’s investigation.

About Quingo

The Quingo Scooter range features six models to suit your needs and budget. New models are now available from just £22/week on our new contract hire scheme which includes all servicing and maintenance, Insurance, Roadside Recovery, Call Outs and Consumables including Batteries and Tyres. For more information on this or the latest Quingo Scooter range, please visit our website. Alternatively, if you have any Service questions you can always contact us or call customer services on 01582 430 900.

Keep up to date with the latest mobility scooter advice, tips and interesting places to visit on the Quingo Scooter Users Blog. Connect with Quingo and keep up to date with all our latest news on Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn.

All Quingo Personal Mobility Vehicles are provided by Forever Active, the UK’s exclusive distributor. Forever Active is a trading name of Advantage Marketing Corporation Limited (AMC).  AMC Limited is an appointed representative of First Senior Insurance Services Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. First Senior Insurance Services FSA Register number is 308478.

Public Transport

Taking your Quingo on a ferry

In the fourth of a series of articles about taking your scooter on different forms of transport, the Quingo team today want to talk about taking your Quingo on a ferry.

Traveling the sea with your Quingo

At Quingo, accessibility and mobility are major concerns of ours, which is why we’d like to discuss the practicalities of taking your Quingo 5 wheel scooter across the sea.

In the past it was often difficult for those with limited mobility to travel by ship or ferry, but newer and more modern boats have started to make journeys much more accessible.

The rights of passengers travelling by sea and inland waterway are spelt out by EU Regulation 1177/2010, which was introduced in December 2012. The regulation states that ships and ferries are obliged to carry any disabled person that wishes to travel on them, as long as it’s safe to do so.

Furthermore, the European regulation stipulates that assistance must be provided for free, including any help with boarding and accessible information. These rules apply to all services with the exception of sight-seeing tours and very short-distance ferries.

What to consider?

There are no specific regulations regarding taking mobility scooters on ferries, as such not all ferry companies necessarily have the same polices regarding mobility scooter users.

Here are a few points of consideration for taking your mobility scooter across the sea:

  • Quingo suggest that you contact the individual ferry company well in advance to check their procedures, as well as any size and weight requirements.
  • Often, ferry companies will insist that a disabled passenger be accompanied by an able bodied companion when aboard the ferry, depending on the nature of the disability. One reason for this is that in the event of rough seas, some passengers may encounter difficulties. If you’re planning to take the journey alone you should discuss this with the ferry company first.
  • On most ferries disabled cabins are available, but it’s advisable to book these early as there are only a limited number of cabins suitable for disabled travellers.
  • Cabins for the disabled and those with limited mobility are usually placed with better access to all public areas and lifts – particularly on more modern ships. They’re designed with wider doorways, hand bars, low level controls, low door peep holes and specially designed spacious bathrooms.
  • Disabled Motoring UK offers concessions to its members with selected ferry companies on specific routes. You should check with individual ferry companies to see if they offer any discounts for blue-badge holders.

Have you been anywhere interesting on your Quingo?

If you’ve been anywhere interesting on your Quingo for your holidays and travels then we’d love to hear from you about your experiences.  You can email your pictures and comments to [email protected] and we’ll put them up on our blog.

Quingo Scooters

Silver Travel Awards reminder – All Quingo users are invited to vote…

As the closing date approaches, the Quingo team want to remind you to vote for the “Best Limited Mobility/Accessible Travel Provider” award at the forthcoming Silver Travel awards, sponsored by Quingo.

Silver Travel Awards

The Silver Travel Awards, in conjunction with Silver Travel Advisor, celebrate businesses and attractions that go the extra mile to meet the needs of the mature travel market.

The awards ceremony will take place on the 4th June 2015 at the Natural History Museum in London and the awards will be announced and presented by former BBC Royal Correspondent Jennie Bond.

Quingo Scooters

Improving accessibility

Quingo scooters are sponsoring the award for Best Limited Mobility/Accessible Travel Provider to help highlight and recognise the good work that companies and attractions do to make their facilities accessible for all and so that everybody can enjoy what they have to offer.

The more light we can shed on the need for accessible attractions, companies and destinations, the more there will be.

How to vote

Is there an attraction which has gone the extra mile to meet your needs, a hotel or B&B where you’ve had a very enjoyable or special experience, or an airline or rental car company which you would like to recommend to people? If so then now is the time to cast your vote for those who have made your experience special.

You can vote on the Silver Travel Advisor website. Just click on the ‘vote now’ button and fill in the online form. You can fill in as few or as many categories as you want, but the fields marked with a ‘*’ need to be filled in to vote.

Hurry the closing date is on the 31st March!