After 23 years providing a Shopmobility Service Darlington Association on Disability has to sadly close from Thursday 24th of March as it is no longer viable to continue to run its Town Centre base.
DAD will continue to offer support services and information from its remaining premises at Enterprise House, Valley Street and West Lodge West Crescent in Darlington and want to assure disabled people and carers in Darlington and the surrounding areas that the organisation can still be contacted at those addresses and on the main telephone numbers 01325 489999 and 01325 360524.
Chairman Gordon Pybus said “It’s a very hard decision that the Trustees of the organisation have had to make, knowing that it will impact on disabled people and carers who may now not be able to access the Town Centre independently.”
The Shopmobility service has struggled to cover its costs over the last three years since the grant from Darlington Council was cut and the organisation had to charge people for the use of the equipment.  The problems facing the organisation in keeping a Town Centre base and the Shopmobility Service now seem insurmountable due to the organisation facing rising costs, technical problems with the proposed premises that had not been envisaged and the Council proposal to cease funding for the Information service. This has all led to the decision to close the service.
“Our Town Centre base has been the main point of access People call in with a simple enquiry and find they have access to a whole range of support. We want to ensure that people know the organisation will still be here and that they can call in to Enterprise House in Valley Street or contact us by phone or by email via our website” said Chief Executive Lauren Robinson.
A fact sheet has been produced and sent to all Shopmobility customers and is available on the website at www.darlingtondisability.org
The organisation is looking at ways it can maintain its long term loan service for manual wheelchairs as they are aware that the waiting list for an NHS wheelchair is up to six months.