Following a request from GDA member Gina Johnson, Waitrose has teamed up with St John’s to provide a mobility scooter in both their Admiral Park and Rohais stores.
Gina has her own scooter but can’t always take it to the store with her. Waitrose are keen to provide an accessible shopping environment for all their customers and had offered to assist her in a wheelchair but that meant she couldn’t shop at her own pace as she used to when Admiral Park was owned by Checkers.
On using the new scooter for the first time, Gina said “It’s a huge store so it was absolutely great to be able to get around on my own. The aisles have plenty of room for me to move around. I have emailed Waitrose to say thank you for listening to my comments.”
Gina’s campaign sparked a big debate on the This Is Guernsey website. This gave a fascinating insight into the views of islanders on the subject of disabled people’s independence and you can read it here.