A Dundee charity set up to make city centre shopping easier for disabled people is to close due to lack of use.
Shopmobility, based at the Overgate Centre, closed its doors for the last time on Friday after 28 years in operation.
The scheme loans out mobility scooters and wheelchairs to anyone with limited mobility, making it possible for them to get around Dundee city centre.
However, demand has dropped dramatically, leading charity bosses to decide it was no longer viable to continue operating.
But those who still rely on the services have been left upset by the closure.
Users are dwindling
Chairman of the board of directors, Jim Cameron, told The Courier that prior to Covid-19 the charity was lending out 20 to 30 mobility vehicles a day.
But he says that figure has now dropped to just two or three a day, and on occasion none at all are borrowed.
Mr Cameron said: “Numbers using the service are continually dwindling.
“As we are a charity and receive donations as well as money from charitable trusts we had to look at the viability of continuing.
“Basically it is now costing Shopmobility £50 a head for every person who used the service. That can’t continue.”
He added: “We did a survey and found that 81% of those we talked to who have used the service have their own mobility vehicles.
“We are also faced with fewer and fewer people coming in to the city centre to shop.
“Many people, particularly disabled people, find it much easier to shop online and there is no longer the need or demand to provide equipment to help people shop in town.”
Chairman: ‘We are gutted’
Mr Cameron says the group is now in discussion with other disability charities in the hope they can make use the Shopmobility equipment.
He said: “When we formed it was written down that should we ever close all assets would be donated to other charities so that’s what is happening.
“We are gutted that this is happening but we have no alternative.”
Catherine Burns, 68, from Charleston said she was very upset the service was folding.
She said: “I regularly use a mobility vehicle from Shopmobility when I go into town.
User: “Shopping in town is going to be almost impossible”
“I have my own mobility scooter but it’s very difficult to take it with us. It is so much easier to go to the centre and hire one of theirs.”
Catherine said she was also upset as she had not been contacted by the charity to explain what was happening.
“They said they carried out a survey but I was never contacted.
“Going shopping in town now will become pretty impossible for me and I probably won’t manage any more which is so disappointing.”
Charity was a “lifeline”
Dorothy McHugh of Dundee Pensioners’ Forum said: “It is so disheartening to hear of the closure of Shopmobility.
“We appreciate that this charity had experienced falling demand since the Covid-19 pandemic but it was a lifeline for many older and disabled people who needed temporary hire of wheelchairs or mobility scooters.
“Where will they go now? This is just another example of disadvantage heaped on disadvantage affecting the most vulnerable in our communities.
“It’s all they need at this time of the year on top of facing a very difficult winter.”
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