Getting their son Simon out of his wheelchair and into the car each day on their sloping driveway was proving too much, so a solution had to be found.
Living in a house with a sloping driveway can be challenging at times – particularly when you have a disabled son who needs transporting in the car on a daily basis.
The steps up to the front door of the house prohibited that entrance from being used for the wheelchair, so a more suitable route through the garage was preferred. The daily routine involved Mr Fine having to stop the wheelchair on the drive while lifting his son Simon out and into the back of the car, a precarious manoeuvre at the best of times.
It then occurred to Mr Fine that rather than taking the wheelchair to the car, he could take the car to the chair. This would involve some fancy manoeuvring in a somewhat confined space, so some help would be needed.
That is where UKT360 came in to the picture. Mr Fine called us and we talked through his predicament and his idea for a solution. We arranged to meet at his house to explore the idea further. It certainly was feasible; however, as with any turntable being installed on a gradient, we had to be sure we could provide a reliable long-term fix.
The benefit we had in this particular scenario was that the car was being rotated 180 degrees with the weight of the engine starting at the top. We just needed to ensure the drive method would hold the weight of the rotating vehicle as it descended to its exit position facing back down the driveway.
The plan was that Mr Fine would drive forward to the top of his driveway and park centrally on the turntable. He would then operate the turntable from the comfort of his car with a key fob transmitter. This would rotate the vehicle in a clockwise direction until he stopped it with the rear nearside door adjacent to the garage door. With the car parked at 90 degrees to the driveway, he could then position the wheelchair safely beside the car without fear of it moving away while he lifted Simon out of the car and into the chair in readiness to be pushed through the garage door and into the house. We had a plan.
The install took two days to complete, involving excavating the driveway, laying a concrete pad in the formed pit, installing the turntable and dressing the pit edge with decorative paving stones, topping the rotating platform with aluminium chequer plate. Job done!
This is what Mr Fine had to say in a follow up letter:
Dear Nigel,
In this age of people complaining about service they receive from suppliers, people very rarely bother to write and thank those organisations for a project excellently carried out.
I would like to thank you and your team for the advice during the feasibility study and consequent installation of our turntable. I appreciate that, due to the uniqueness of our particular needs, this was probably one of your hardest jobs due to the steepness of our drive.
I can only say that Florence and I are delighted with the result and we would be pleased to recommend your company to any prospective customers.
We wish you and your family a healthy and prosperous future.
Kind regards
Peter Fine
