Disabled access to holiday home

Le_Foot

Hi everyone,
We have just bought a static caravan in Norfolk for family use only (sub-letting is not allowed on the site anyway) Unless we can get a ramp to the balcony, my Mum who is wheelchair bound will not be able to enjoy a holiday there, as no way can she climb the steps into it.
Does anyone know if there is a company that makes these ramps to health & safety regulations, and also is there any help available towards the cost from any disability agency. I suspect the cost, if borne only by ourselves would be prohibitive.
Mum gets pension credit, and attendance allowance etc., so if it meant 'means testing' it would not be a problem.

Thank you.

Jackie

LittleTinker

Le_Foot wrote: »

Hi everyone,
We have just bought a static caravan in Norfolk for family use only (sub-letting is not allowed on the site anyway) Unless we can get a ramp to the balcony, my Mum who is wheelchair bound will not be able to enjoy a holiday there, as no way can she climb the steps into it.
Does anyone know if there is a company that makes these ramps to health & safety regulations, and also is there any help available towards the cost from any disability agency. I suspect the cost, if borne only by ourselves would be prohibitive.
Mum gets pension credit, and attendance allowance etc., so if it meant 'means testing' it would not be a problem.

Thank you.

Jackie

You can buy metal ramps that are portable and can be used all over the place, such as for the back of cars or into a friends house.

Dont know how much they cost though. However, I doubt that you can get a grant or help with making or buying a ramp for your holiday home.

Penny-Pincher!!

Le_Foot wrote: »

Hi everyone,
We have just bought a static caravan in Norfolk for family use only (sub-letting is not allowed on the site anyway) Unless we can get a ramp to the balcony, my Mum who is wheelchair bound will not be able to enjoy a holiday there, as no way can she climb the steps into it.
Does anyone know if there is a company that makes these ramps to health & safety regulations, and also is there any help available towards the cost from any disability agency. I suspect the cost, if borne only by ourselves would be prohibitive.
Mum gets pension credit, and attendance allowance etc., so if it meant 'means testing' it would not be a problem.

Thank you.

Jackie

There wouldnt be any grants for a holiday caravan.

Also, the caravan is yours, not your mums. Is there not any way the family can either chip in on costs or put up a simple ramp?

I dont mean to be rude, but surely you would have factored this in when you viewed the caravan.

PP
xx

Errata

Have a look at these http://www.betterlifehealthcare.com/products.php?search_filter=0&catID=25&subID=0&pg=1&set_records_per_page=10000000&show_offers=0&search=0&search_text=&gclid=CP3eosuAraQCFYr92AodsWfvZQ

adviceforall

Cant the site recommend someone to do it or be able to organise them to get it done, we are at a Haven site and if we wanted one they would be able to help.. Wont be cheap but no doubt someone on the site has needed to do the same, ( maybe look around the site if people have them and if they are all owners on site ask them for advice)

Lorne

Before looking at the ramp, make sure that the door is wide enough for her wheelchair to go through, I've recently viewed a static where this would not have been possible. Ramp wise, depends on how many steps are present. Portable 3 or 5 foot ramps are really only suitable for single steps safely, guidelines for ramping is that they should be a minimum of 1:12 gradient, 1:15 ideally (for every inch step, the ramp needs to be 12 inches long) The most successful converstions I've seen have incorporated a decking ramp. I don't know of any grants available to convert a holiday home.

unluckychappie

The 'briefcase' ramps in Ettata's post are very good. Well worth the investment as they are, obviously, portable and resolved other access issues when Mum visits friends and families who do not have low door thresholds.

Don't buy the 'pair' raps as they are unstable and the front and back wheels have to align to fit into the tracking (not all wheelchairs do).

The coments about the gradient is obviously really important (1:12) so some form of decking or permanent ramp may be necessary.

I paid about £ 160 for a ramp, about the same as it would cost to build a wood and concreted based ramp.

Trix

Make sure you check with the site first. My parents own a static caravan and were wanting to get some sort of ramps so we could take my daughter in her wheelchair instead of having to carry her in. The site is very specific on what is and what is not allowed because they don't want every caravan looking different and refused the ramps my parents wanted to use.

The compromise was that the site provided a veranda like this one:



(I say provided - it cost my parents about £1, 500 :eek:) and my parents got ramps like these:



...that could be put over the steps as needed and stored away the rest of the time. Obviously the higher the steps the longer the ramps need to be though to make sure the gradient isn't too bad.

Those particular ramps can be found here: http://www.mobility-company.co.uk/product_wheelchair_telescopic_ramp_1.5m__315.html and are £230, which is about what my parents paid for them at a local place that sells disability items.

I don't know of any grants that may pay for them though :undecided