Getting an elderly parent set up for winter often means bringing something substantial into the house. A riser recliner, a profiling bed, a stairlift, a mobility scooter or a wheelchair-accessible ramp all arrive from a showroom, a private seller or a family member’s garage, and almost none of them fit in a car. Arranging van hire in Warrington for an afternoon usually solves it. Collecting mobility equipment is straightforward provided you think about the doorways as carefully as the vehicle.
Measure The Route Before You Collect Anything
The commonest problem with this kind of collection is not the journey, it is the last three metres. Profiling beds and riser recliners are wide, mobility scooters are long and heavy, and older houses in and around Warrington have narrow hallways, tight turns at the bottom of the stairs and internal doors that were fitted before anybody thought about wheelchairs. Measure the narrowest point on the route from the front door to where the item is going, and measure the item, before you agree to collect it. Ask the seller or supplier whether it dismantles, since a great many recliners split into a base and a back and most bed frames come apart entirely. Doing that at the collection end, where there is space and daylight, is far easier than discovering it is necessary in a hallway with an anxious relative watching.
Why A Low Loading Height Changes The Job
Mobility equipment is heavy, frequently on castors or wheels, and often cannot be tipped or laid on its side without damaging it. A Luton low loader van is worth choosing for exactly this reason, because the lower deck means a shallower ramp angle and considerably less lifting between the ground and the load area. A mobility scooter can be wheeled up rather than lifted, which is the difference between a two-person job and a four-person one, and a profiling bed base can be walked up on a sack barrow. For smaller items such as a wheelchair, a walking frame and a few boxes, a short wheelbase medium roof van is easier to park outside a terraced house and gives enough standing height to load without stooping.
Securing Equipment That Must Not Be Damaged
Most of these items are expensive, some are on loan from a health service or a charity, and a good number cannot simply be replaced the following week. Strap them properly rather than wedging them, keeping straps away from upholstery and control panels, and put blankets between anything that can rub. Scooters and powered chairs should be secured at the frame rather than over the seat or the tiller. Batteries are worth a moment’s thought, since some powered equipment should travel with the battery isolated and it is worth asking the supplier rather than assuming. Loose parts such as armrests, footplates, chargers and remote handsets go in a labelled bag in the cab, because they are small, essential and very easy to lose in a van.
Buying Second Hand And Collecting Privately
A great deal of mobility equipment is bought privately, which usually means collecting from a house rather than a showroom with a loading bay. Ask the seller in advance whether there is anyone there to help lift, whether the item is already dismantled, and where you can park, because these collections are frequently from exactly the kind of narrow street the equipment will be going back to. Take a photograph before it goes in the van. Be realistic about what two people can manage safely, and if the item is genuinely heavy, take a third person rather than risking a back or the equipment itself.
Fitting It Around Fitting And Delivery
Where something needs installing, the collection has to land before the fitter and not on the same morning. Stairlifts and ramps in particular are usually fitted by a specialist who will have booked a slot, and having the equipment already in the house makes that appointment far less fraught. Where an occupational therapist or an adaptation grant is involved, check whether they need to see the item before it is installed. Families arranging this from a distance often find it easiest to collect and store at their own address for a few days first, which is a perfectly reasonable way to do it if the parking allows.
Booking The Van And The Documents
The person named on the hire has to be the one collecting the vehicle, bringing a photocard licence and a DVLA check code rather than a credit card. Every vehicle in our fleet of over seventy vans sits at or under three and a half tonnes gross vehicle weight and is driveable on a standard category B car licence, so any family member who drives is generally eligible. We are open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm and closed on Sunday, there is free secure parking on site and no deposit is required on most vehicles. Families collecting for relatives around Stretton van hire and Astley van hire are a short run from the depot in either direction.
Passing Equipment On When It Is No Longer Needed
Mobility equipment rarely stays in one household forever, and knowing what happens next makes the original decision easier. Anything provided by a health service, a local authority or a charity is usually on loan and has to go back rather than being disposed of, so check before assuming otherwise. Privately bought equipment in good order is genuinely wanted, and there are reuse schemes, charities and community groups across Cheshire and Merseyside that will take a scooter, a ramp or a good recliner and put it straight back into use. That does mean another collection, which is worth planning rather than leaving to a difficult week. Where equipment is genuinely past use, powered items contain batteries and electronics and belong at a recycling centre rather than in a household bin. Families dealing with this after a bereavement often find it easier to arrange the van and the destination in one go rather than in stages.
Tell us what you are collecting, whether it dismantles and how wide the tightest doorway is, and we will make sure you leave with something that can actually do the job. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 and we will talk it through.
