Beach wheelchair moved to Peel to encourage more use

The piece of specialist equipment has been made available for use on Peel Beach

An adapted wheelchair to enable beach use has been moved from the east to the west of the Isle of Man to encourage more use of it, a charity has said.

Disability Network has gifted the specialist equipment to Peel commissioners to make available.

The charity said use of the beach wheelchair in its previous location in Ramsey had been "underwhelming".

A beach wheelchair was also previously provided in the south of the island to use on Port Erin beach.

A spokeswoman for the charity said Peel was a "popular beach" and the equipment was expected to "get similar usage to the ones in Port Erin near the beach huts".

Beth Martin from the charity said a lack of access to beached for wheelchair users had left them missing out on spending time with their families there.

The equipment meant "the whole family can access the beach" and enjoy the "asset that the rest of us just take for granted", she said.

While the chairs handle well on sandy and shingled beaches, the tyres could not cope with stony beaches, Ms Martin said.

She said Ramsey had been an ideal location for the chair as when the tide was out there was "miles and miles of sand".

However the charity was not able to get storage that enabled 24 hour access to the chair, which meant "usage was falling off", she said.

Peel commissioners had "leapt at the opportunity" to make the equipment available, she added.