Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We had to push nan a mile home after being stranded
Taxi firm didn’t have suitable vehicle
AN evening out for Bridget Mohan turned to disaster when she was stranded in her wheelchair in freezing conditions a mile from home.
The frail 87-year-old from Whitewell Road, North Belfast, suffers from heart problems and is normally housebound due to deteriorating health.
But she was determined to attend a surprise 30th birthday celebration for her granddaughter’s wife Amy Millbank.
A wheelchair-accessible taxi was booked for the pensioner’s journey home at midnight.
But when it turned up two-and-a-half hours later, the taxi was a regular saloon car and Mrs Mohan was unable to get into it.
Healthcare worker Amy said: “She’s very frail and on a lot of medication and she literally couldn’t get herself from her wheelchair into an ordinary car either on her own or with our help.
“The taxi driver called his depot but they had nothing suitable despite us specifically booking a wheelchair-accessible car in the first place. Bridget [Amy’s wife] and I called nine other taxi firms but either they had no suitable cars and drivers or the ones that would have been suitable were not on duty.
“The temperature had dropped below zero and Nanny just kept telling us to go on home, saying that she’d be OK.
“In the end Bridget and I decided we had no other option but to push Nanny home to Whitewell Road in her wheelchair. It’s almost a mile and was very uncomfortable for her.
“My wife also has asthma and the exertion of pushing Nanny up the hill in the cold took a toll on her and badly affected her. It took us nearly an hour to get Nanny home and then we needed to get her sorted out and warmed up and into bed.
“The whole situation was undignified and upsetting for Nanny and we were so sorry that she felt humiliated by what happened.”
Mrs Mohan has been recovering from her ordeal and her family says she is unlikely to leave her home again.
The Equality Commission confirmed taxi firms do not have to have wheelchair accessible cars at their disposal.