Rising at last – Sir Bert Massie CBE

I recently retired and moved full-time to my bungalow in Liverpool. It was clear very early on that my papers would take over the bungalow unless I created room for an office. Unfortunately, it was not clear how the necessary space would be found. The answer seemed to be to use the large loft and build a dormer. I applied for planning permission and had to go through the usual obstacles and hurdles that planners like to place before us. Eventually planning permission arrived and contactors were invited to submit estimates but while that was taking place I had to deal with the problem of deciding how I would get to the new dormer.

One option was to have a stair case fitted (to replace the loft ladder) and fit a stair lift to it. For a number of reasons I thought this was an unsatisfactory solution as I'm a full-time wheelchair user and would have needed a rather large device. I am also conscious of how often I have been trapped on stair lifts when they have broken down. I was once trapped on a Stairlift in the Vatican. If the Almighty can't keep one going what chance did I have?

I decided that a vertical rise lift was the answer. The problem was that it had to go into a loft and not into a large amount of space that would exist in the upstairs of a standard house. I began telephoning the companies who supply and fit such lifts to explain the problem. I found their responses interesting.

The companies had their standard products. When I explained the space requirements most companies simply said "sorry, we can't help." There was no attempt to see if any of the products could be modified and not a single company suggested I contact one of their competitors. I very much gained the impression that they would be helpful if I was signing a cheque but there was no
enthusiasm to assist me otherwise.

They therefore suggested other modifications to the bungalow and agreed to find a little extra space of the height of the lift. We had a solution.

Happily, because they worked closely with the contractors who were adding the extension to the bungalow it was possible for the contractors to create the extra space to enable the standard product of a Wessex lift to be fitted. It was fitted in just one day and has proved a huge success.

Is there a lesson?

I think there are two. The first is that I had the funds ready to purchase a lift costing several thousand pounds. A number of companies could have collected that money had they been more helpful. Secondly, I should have saved my time contacting so many companies and gone to Wessex in the first place.