A familiar tale by now for those who take an interest in such things
Wheelchair-bound woman's fight to get to dad's wake after being turned down by taxishttps://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news ... ds-3625040Linda Shaw has spina bifida and struggled to book a taxi from Scunthorpe which was accessible for wheelchairs
Image: David Haber/ScunthorpeLiveA wheelchair-bound woman said she nearly missed her dad's wake after struggling to book a taxi which was adapted to carry disabled people.
Linda Shaw, who has spina bifida, was left frantically ringing around taxi companies to book a vehicle after her father passed away.
But she said most firms she tried told her they were already booked up with school runs and one said she would need to call back on the day of the funeral to see whether they had wheelchair-accessible cars available.
Just weeks ago, she was forced to miss her brother-in-law's wake for the same reason.
Linda, of Ethel Court in Scunthorpe, said: "This was my chance to say goodbye to my father, there was no way I wasn't going to go.
"When my brother-in-law died last month, we couldn't get a taxi to go to the wake but I wasn't going to let it happen again.
"We've always used a company which has been very good with getting my wheelchair in. But they weren't working that day, so I must have called another eight companies who said they were either booked up or couldn't guarantee there would be a wheelchair-accessible car available.
"Some companies who said they carried disabled passengers on their website told me they don't actually do that now."
Linda can't walk due to spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord isn't properly enclosed as it develops.
The taxi would have been required to carry Linda and husband Charlie to the funeral service at Woodlands Crematorium in Scunthorpe and then to the wake in Crowle, where her dad 'Sandy' MacDonald lived.
The last bus from Crowle to Scunthorpe would leave too early for them to catch.
After Charlie took to Facebook to talk about the problem they faced, a friend of a friend was able to offer their van which has been converted to carry wheelchairs.
Linda said: "Maybe one day people in wheelchairs never left the house, but that shouldn't be the case today. We should be allowed to have lives and go out, especially for occasions like this.
"We were so grateful to the people who offered to let us use their van. Without it, we wouldn't have been able to get there at all."
Charlie, 70, said he thought transport options for people in wheelchairs needed to be improved.
He said: "It wasn't until I married Linda that I realised how difficult it was for people in wheelchairs to get about. Only two or three years ago, they had difficulty getting on buses.
"I know a lot of taxi companies are one-man one-vehicle, but services need to improve."
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