Are you willing to Help?

The following story was in a newsletter sent to me by Elizabeth Finn Trust: The URL is http://www.elizabethfinncare.org.uk/



The text reads:
The EU just reclassified mobility scooters so that they
are now in the same category as an F1 racing car.

This allows them to impose a 10% tax on scooters. One
that once cost you £2500, could now set you back £2750.
That's £25O less to spend on essentials.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO
FIGHT THIS IN]USTICE!

If you use a mobility scooter and are willing to speak out, contact

Rob Tolan on 0207 396 6703.

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My Own View:

A mobility scooter is essential in the daily lives of many people; an F1 Racing Car is not.  People who rely on mobility scooters are usually on a small fixed income, and taxing them for being unable to walk is wrong.  Using the same logic, you could just as well tax someone for having two functioning legs.  The mobility scooters ARE "legs" in that they enable people to get out and about and do things that they used to do when their legs worked properly.  

I was housebound for some years before getting mine, and having one has done a great deal for me.  I can go and buy bread, milk and other food, take the cat to the vet, get out of the house and enjoy the local beauty spots, go to the dentist and do all sorts of things that I would previously have had to pay a taxi for.  

People are very kind and often offered lifts if I wanted to go somewhere, but if you have a craving for chocolate but you don't know which one exactly, you can hardly ask someone to take you to the shop for that.  People did my shopping for me, and I am grateful, but sometimes you want to browse the shampoo aisle to see which one you might like.  

Having a Mobility Scooter has given me my life back, and as I can go out with family and friends, human relationships have improved too.  Also, as is quite common amongst users of Mobility aids, my health has improved and I depend on it less.  For instance, I leave it outside a shop now, instead of taking it in.  I still shop at night when the supermarket is virtually empty, but a few years ago, even that would have been out of the question.

I enjoy taking the dog to the beautiful Folkestone Leas and sit in the shade looking at the sea or reading a newspaper while he runs around.   Its an innocent pleasure that I couldn't enjoy without a scooter.  Here's a picture to show what I mean:

Taxing a mobility product is an obscene tax on disability, or a "fine" for being ill, frail or infirm.