Gran is scooter scam victim

Reporter: Lucy Kenderdine
Date published: 12 November 2014


A GREAT-grandmother has lost £1,000 after buying a faulty mobility scooter from a suspected rogue trader.

Margaret Turner agreed to buy the scooter in March after a salesman had visited her home in Royton unannounced.

The salesman, from Ilkeston-based Mobility Services (UK) Ltd, sold 77-year-old Mrs Turner the scooter for £1,115.

A month later the scooter hadn’t arrived and Mrs Turner, who has arthritis, had no delivery date

After repeated attempts to contact the firm, the company agreed to deliver the scooter at the end of April. Within days the scooter stopped working, despite delivery of a new battery charger.

Since then the company hasn’t responded to any attempt to make contact; its website has been shut down.

Mrs Turner, who relies on her daughter for help, said: “It feels like such a waste of money. I had considered getting a mobility scooter but I have only been able to use it three times since I bought it.”

Mrs Turner’s daughter, Yvonne Wilson (53), said the family has contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau to complain about the company. She said: “We are disgusted by the company and the way we have been treated. It is wrong that these people are preying on the elderly in this way.”

Nottinghamshire County Council trading standards officer John Maher said, “Mobility Services UK is currently under investigation following a number of complaints from the public.

The Chronicle’s attempts to contact the company have received no response.