Cambridge Shopmobility – My Experience (Part 1)

Image description: On the right is a powered wheelchair. On the seat is a small backpack and there’s a crutch on the back. The wheelchair is on grass and the branches of a weeping willow tree appear on the top left. There’s a building in the distance.

You may have read my previous blog post reviewing the accessability at Cambridge Botanic Garden (click here if you would like to read it). I visited Cambridge again as it is one of my favourite places to go to for a short break. During my previous visits, I was unable to explore Cambridge on foot and see some of the famous sites close up. When planning my trip this time, I searched for wheelchairs available to hire and the first thing to pop up was Shopmobility, which can be found here. I did not know that this service existed during my previous visits.

Shopmobility is available at both Grafton East car park (which is currently closed) and the Grand Arcade car park. If you use Shopmobility, you can park for up to three hours for free, which is brilliant as parking is quite expensive. There are manual wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters available to borrow. You can take the mobilty aid of your choice around the city centre within certain boundaries, as stated on the website. I decided to try out Shopmobility and borrowed a powerchair. I am currently looking to purchase a powerchair and so this was the perfect opportunity to try one out. Powerchairs are also smaller than mobility scooters, making it easier to navigate the city centre.

Due to covid-19, users of Shopmobility are required to book an appointment beforehand to ensure social distancing. We went to the Grand Arcade car park and Shopmobility is on the lower level. This level is for Shopmobility users only and no other cars are permitted to enter. There are only disabled bays on this level but you do not need a Blue Badge in order to park. There is an office where the staff were and they came out to greet us once we parked up. After filling in some forms and showing the staff my ID, they let me test out the powered wheelchair. When I was happy with it, I was free to go an explore Cambridge on wheels!

We were advised to go up in the lift to street level and exit by going through the shopping centre. We found the shopping centre to be a bit of a maze to navigate, especially on the way back to Shopmobility, as different lifts take you to different levels – but we got there in the end!

I had planed a circular route that would lead us back to the car park. We had a look at Market Square, made our way to the Cambridge Backs and Coe Fen and finally worked our way back to the car park. I will be talking more about my experiences using the powerchair around Cambridge in part two!