Putting town centre to the disabled test (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Putting town centre to the disabled test

12:39pm Sunday 26th August 2007 in

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I TOOK to the streets on a bright yellow mobility scooter equipped with an imaginary shopping list.

My first port of call was to post a letter at the post office in London Street, where I was welcomed with an electric door perfect for the width of my vehicle.

The queue to the counter snaked around cordons too tight for my large turning circle, so after getting stuck and giving up, I was told that I could wait by the side of the queue. Well, they could have made that clearer from the start, I thought, and saved my embarrassment.

Older streets like London Street and Wote Street have steps at the entrances and, unfortunately, very few landlords provide ramps.

So instead, I chose to make my imaginary purchases elsewhere.

I was tempted by the thought of an imaginary new watch and gold chain, so I tried G & E Antonelli jewellers in Church Street.

Entering was straightforward because it has refurbished its doorway to accommodate disabled carriages.

Owner Giuseppe Antonelli said: "We have a lot of disabled customers and they have been very pleased since we got our new doorway.

"It's important to take your customers' needs into account and perhaps other stores would benefit if they did the same."

Then I headed to Festival Place to do a spot of food shopping in Marks and Spencer. I easily manoeuvred through the wide aisles and had no problem paying at the low counter.

Festival Place caters well for disabled carriages.

The only problem I had was, eager for toffee to satisfy my sweet tooth, gaining access to chocolatier Thorntons.

I found it has an insurmountable step and no ramp.

I found Old Basing Mall fared well, although my trip to WH Smith involved an assistant walking around with me, moving displays out of the way and showing me to a creaking service lift for a trip upstairs.

At the end of my hour-and-a-half experiment, I put my niggle about Thorntons to Festival Place marketing manager Jane Stewart. She said: "We are delighted you had a good experience and it is a primary concern that the centre be accessible to all.

"We have looked into making the Thorntons ramp accessible but removable ramps are very heavy for counter assistants to move, so they have been trained to provide help at the door."

I borrowed the scooter from Shopmobility, the charity providing mobility assistance to the disabled in Church Street.

There, Anne Blackmore, who is the manager, told me: "Your experience around town is consistent with what many of our customers tell us.

"The disabled access is good but there is still room for improvement, and, if any shops would like advice on making changes, I would be more than happy to help."