RAMP UP THE STANDARD

Allied Mobility continues to demonstrate the skills and commitment to innovation that has made it a giant of wheelchair accessible vehicles. Able magazine was recently invited to look around their facilities, take a spin in the new Peugeot Horizon and see how they’ve applied their knowhow to this latest vehicle.

WORDS: TOM JAMISON

People will tell you that there’s no industry left in Glasgow. Yes, shipbuilding has long gone, with stretches of the banks down the Clyde now weed-littered scrublands where once thousands built the ships and steam engines that made ‘Clyde built’ a byword for strength and reliability. However, a recent visit to Allied Mobility changed my perspective about present-day Glasgwegian industry and innovation.

The Allied Mobility site is huge – it’s literally spread across several streets. This is hardly surprising, as the site incorporates a sales park, a service centre, a bodyshop, paintshop, and parts centre, a graphics department, and a technology, research and development centre. On entering the 98,000 square feet of factory it’s easy to imagine yourself as the smallest mouse in a Terence Cuneo painting.

Passing team after industrious team working on vehicles – ranging from taxis to minibuses and family cars – you can appreciate the pace at which they work. No wonder Allied Mobility manages to produce 2,600 units every year – that’s 50 a week! – and has become the leading supplier of purpose-built wheelchair accessible taxis across 90% of UK local authorities and the leading supplier of wheelchair accessible vehicles via the Motability Scheme. Maybe those history books should now read: “After the decline of shipbuilding came the shift into the manufacture of wheelchair accessible vehicles”?

GOING FOR A SPIN

It’s an impressive set up, but the main purpose of our visit is to take a spin in the new Peugeot Horizon URBAN 1.6 16v 90. The one set aside for us was freshly minted and kitted out with the latest FlexiFold wheelchair access ramp. This is proof positive of Allied Mobility’s attitude to keep pushing for the ultimate accessible vehicles. The Flexifold ramp offers a low gradient entry without the need to extend the length of the ramp making it easy for the wheelchair passenger and its ideal for parking where there might be space limitations. The trick is that it’s more integral to the actual vehicle and can be folded absolutely flat to the vehicle floor when not being used by the wheelchair passenger, creating fantastic storage space.

Allied Mobility’s Peter Facenna explains: “We have worked hard to create a ramp that offers easier wheelchair access for our customers. The feedback from customers has been great with many commenting on how versatile and simple it is to use. We’re just delighted we are helping make customers’ journeys even easier.”

There’s something about driving the Peugeot Horizon that is pretty breezy. For one thing the interior is not overly beefy despite it being a well muscled vehicle. Darting around the mid afternoon traffic in Glasgow put me in mind of driving something as nippy as a Mini or – at heaviest – a hatchback, but with a higher seat perspective.

TAKE IT EASY

In fact, so easy was the drive that I’d almost forgotten about my colleague Terry in the back, who’d come along to try out the Flexifold ramp for himself.

As it was, Terry also forgot that he was supposed to be checking out the ride quality. Fact was, he was deep in conversation with Natalie, Allied Mobility's Marketing Manager – and, as he later admitted, that showed he’d felt so secure in the vehicle that he’d let his guard down and allowed his mind to wander!

Given that Terry is a confirmed driver who usually doesn’t like being driven by anybody else, that’s probably the best review a specifically passenger-oriented design can get – the reviewer simply forgot that he was reviewing it!

MORE: 0800 916 3018, www.alliedmobility.com