Council to move disability assessment office after admitting 13th floor stair hike is not ideal

Liverpool city bosses are moving the office where disabled motorists must have medical examinations for blue badges from the 13th level of a car park after admitting it was “not the ideal location”. The move follows a complaint from a member of the public who found that the lift in the Mount Pleasant car park stops two levels short of the roof. He had to struggle up two flights of stairs, to where the portable cabin offices are, to be assessed.

The complaint from the disabled driver states that “a set of stairs has to be negotiated before emerging at the correct level and having done this there is a long walk for someone of limited ability”. It added: “It seems ludicrous that the council could not find a more appropriate setting for a disability assessment office than one that is a trial in every sense of the word”.



Liberal group leader Cllr Steve Radford, who received the complaint from a resident, said: “For the council to say it’s not ideal must be the understatement of the century.” Graham Footer, of blue badge awareness group Disabled Motoring UK, said the situation was “absolutely unbelievable” but that he was glad “common sense had prevailed”.

A council spokesman said: “We recognise it’s not the most satisfactory arrangement. We will be getting a ground floor office. It does say in the letters that if anyone has difficulty walking they should let us know and we will try to make arrangements. We accept that it’s not ideal but it’s an interim situation.”