When an adapted vehicle stops, two things stop with it. The journey, and the mobility the vehicle provides. Most recovery advice quietly assumes the driver can stand at a roadside and get a lift home, and for a lot of people that assumption does not hold.

DK’s Recovery covers Sheffield and South Yorkshire 24 hours a day. Tell us the vehicle is adapted when you call. 07867 860723, or see our vehicle recovery page.

Say what the adaptation is

It changes the job in specific ways, so specifics help:

  • Hand controls or a transfer seat — little effect on loading, but it matters if the vehicle needs manoeuvring by someone else.
  • A lowered floor — reduces ground clearance, so a shallower bed angle and a slower approach.
  • A rear ramp or tail lift — affects the departure angle and adds weight at the back.
  • A hoist — adds weight and needs securing before the vehicle moves.

A wheelchair-accessible vehicle is frequently heavier than an identical unconverted model, and lower. Neither is a problem when it is known in advance; both are when the truck arrives expecting a standard van.

The part that matters most

Nobody travels in a vehicle that is being transported, and a recovery cab is not wheelchair accessible. So if a wheelchair user is with the vehicle, their onward journey has to be arranged separately — and that is the thing most worth sorting first.

Say on the call that a wheelchair user is present. It is not a detail to raise once the truck has arrived, because it changes what has to happen and in what order. Where accessible transport is needed and none is to hand, that becomes the priority while the vehicle waits.

The wheelchair itself

If it is the user’s everyday chair, it should come out of the vehicle with them. Being separated from your own chair while the vehicle sits in a garage yard for three days is exactly the situation to avoid, and it is easily avoided by thinking about it at the roadside.

If it is a spare or a transit chair and it is properly secured in its restraints, it can usually travel with the vehicle.

Where the vehicle should go

Adaptation work generally needs a specialist converter rather than a general garage. A mainstream workshop can handle the base vehicle’s mechanical faults but often will not touch the conversion — hoists, ramps, floor modifications and control systems.

Worth knowing which converter handles your vehicle before you need one, so the decision is already made. If the fault is mechanical rather than in the adaptation, a normal garage is fine, and it is worth being clear which you are dealing with.

If the vehicle is leased or on a scheme

Many adapted vehicles are supplied through a lease or mobility scheme, and those arrangements usually include their own breakdown provision and rules about who may work on the vehicle.

Check the paperwork before arranging anything independently — using an unapproved garage can complicate a lease. If their provider cannot attend quickly and you need the vehicle moved somewhere safe in the meantime, that is a reasonable thing to arrange separately, but it is worth a call to them first.

Worth doing before it happens

  • Save a recovery number, and note in your phone what the adaptation is.
  • Know which converter services your vehicle.
  • Know what your lease or scheme provides, and its number.
  • Have a plan for accessible onward transport — a taxi firm with an accessible vehicle, or someone who can come out.
  • Keep a phone charger and any essential medication in the vehicle rather than the boot.

Five minutes now, and the roadside version of this becomes an inconvenience rather than a crisis.

Common questions

What should I say when I call about an adapted vehicle?

Say it is adapted and how – hand controls, a wheelchair hoist, a lowered floor, a ramp, or a transfer seat. Also say whether a wheelchair user is present and whether they need onward transport. Those two facts change what we send and how the job is planned.

Can a wheelchair-accessible vehicle be recovered normally?

Usually yes, though a lowered floor reduces ground clearance and a rear ramp affects the approach angle, so loading takes more care. Many WAVs are also heavier than they look because of the conversion.

What happens to a wheelchair user while the vehicle is recovered?

Their onward transport needs arranging separately – a recovery cab is not accessible and nobody travels in a vehicle being transported. This is the part most worth planning for in advance, because it is the part that leaves someone stranded.

Should the wheelchair stay in the vehicle?

Only if it is securely fastened in its normal restraints and the user has other mobility available. If it is the user’s everyday chair, it should come out with them – being separated from it while the vehicle sits at a garage is the situation to avoid.

Can you take the vehicle to a specialist converter?

Yes, and it is often the right destination. Adaptation work usually needs a converter rather than a general garage, so it is worth knowing which one handles yours before you need it.

Is recovery for an adapted vehicle more expensive?

It is priced the same way as any job – distance, time of day and difficulty of loading. Weight and clearance may mean a particular vehicle is sent, and that is factored into the quote before we set off.

Adapted vehicle off the road in Sheffield?

Tell us the adaptation and whether a wheelchair user is with it. 07867 860723 — 24 hours a day.