A road mobility scooter can prove invaluable at any time of year, although the summer, being the time when you most want to be outdoors, is when it is especially useful, enabling you to enjoy everything from the local carnival to days out with family in the school holidays.
You may enjoy some summer sport as well, by riding down to see cricket matches, but now it is August, the football season is almost back with us.
For millions around the country, that means the resumption of the regular ritual of getting down to the ground to see their team in action, with some going further and travelling to see their side in away matches as well.
This is not just for the able-bodied, of course. While many people will walk, climb in and out of cars, or catch a coach or train to get to the ground, those with mobility issues won’t want to miss out on seeing the action. If you now need a road mobility scooter after once being able to make it into the ground on foot, you won’t want this to stop you from attending.
Watching Is The Easy Part
Fortunately, the good news is that grounds tend to be very well equipped for those with mobility issues or other disabilities. The Accessible Stadium Guide outlines how many wheelchair spaces have to be provided, in line with the overall capacity of the venue.
For instance, even a venue with a capacity under 10,000 should have at least six spaces, while at the other end of the scale, any venue over 40,000 the requirement is 210 plus a minimum of two spaces per 1,000.
Normally, clubs have this in place, with occasional exceptions when adjustments are being made, such as the redevelopment of venues.
The provisions may not be quite so good at a local non-league venue, although rising crowds at such matches in recent years mean clubs increasingly need to pay attention to facilities, as well as enjoying more income from spectators to help pay for this.
Transport Challenges
While the facilities inside the ground are usually decent, you still need to get there, and this is where things can become a little more challenging unless you have a very good mobility scooter.
The first thing to consider is that while it may be easy getting down the road on an early-season day in August when the sun is shining, things could soon get a bit trickier. There will be slippery autumnal leaves and, in the coldest days of winter, snow and ice may make things a bit more challenging.
For this reason, an all-terrain scooter may be particularly handy for dealing with such issues, especially if the ground is located at the top of a hill, which adds to the challenge if there is snow and ice.
Nonetheless, a sufficiently powerful road scooter should be able to handle these things and it is important that this should be so. After all, when you aren’t off to a football match, there will be other occasions when you want to get about town, from the theatre to the pub, and you don’t want to be prevented from doing so by less than ideal conditions.
A Question For All Occasions
What you might gain by considering the terrain you may cover going to a match is the same thinking that should apply to anyone needing a mobility scooter; the same question always applies, which is: how can you still get to the places you always liked to go to now that you are no longer able to walk there?
Of course, you may soon find you get into a routine when using a mobility scooter to go to home games.
Firstly, you will be familiar with the route (unless you follow a team that has just moved home, such as Everton), might know of an easy alternative means of getting to the ground if there is a problem (which may not just be poor weather, but roadworks or another obstruction), as well as being familiar with the venue’s facilities.
Away Game Travel Issues
Travelling away from home may be another matter. It may be that you have some challenges when getting there, such as a lack of step-free access at the local railway station,
Having a fast-moving scooter that can handle roads could be particularly useful if you can only use certain stations with step-free access, as that means if you have to get off further from the venue, you can make up the greater distance easily.
Even if you have been to some away grounds before, there have been changes, with new EFL rules ensuring all disabled fans with general admission tickets should be seated with the away fans, not in the ‘home’ disabled section. It remains to be seen if this might raise any accessibility issues.
Nonetheless, such matters are never more important than being able to get there in the first place. One of the great advantages of a high-quality road scooter is that you can get down the road and through the crowds easily when the pavement is rammed with fans, and some local pavement parking means you can’t squeeze through the gap.
Tackling Range Anxiety
Apart from its capacity to run swiftly and robustly on roads, the most important thing for your scooter is range, especially if you have to make your way a significant distance across town.
For that reason, you mustn’t just have a good road scooter, but also equip it with the best lithium battery and charger. This is vital to ensure you are fully charged up and have all the power you need when travelling as far as you need to across town to get to the venue.
Having a reliable battery is crucial to ensure you never get stranded, especially in a town or city far from home. This won’t just be applicable when heading to a football match, of course, but it is a prime example of how a reliable battery increases your confidence in being able to get out and about as much as you want.
With a powerful road scooter able to get you places quickly and handle the literal bumps in the road, as well as lots of power, you can look forward to the season ahead. Whether your team proves to be quite so reliable is another question.
