CLIENTS and staff at Hannahs, Ivybridge, are pleading with the authorities to improve their access to the town centre.

They say the only way to get from the Woodland centre for disabled children and adults to the middle of Ivybridge is to risk the narrow and sloping pavements along Western Road.

But at its narrowest point, next to the old fire station, the pavement is just five centimetres wider than the motorised wheelchairs used by many Hannahs clients – leaving precious little room for manoeuvre.

And the tricky pavements have led to at least one serious accident, where a wheelchair user toppled into the road, as well as another near miss, according to staff.

Executive lead for Hannahs, Ivybridge, Izzy Guest attended a meeting of the town council on Monday to ask for something to be done.

She was joined by specialist occupational therapist Nellie Dadge and Rebecca Nash, a Hannahs client.

Rebecca delivered a message herself, asking assembled councillors, including district councillor Mike Saltern and county councillor Roger Croad, to ‘help us by making the pavements a bit safer for us to get into town’.

Ms Dadge described the recent incident when a wheelchair came off the kerb and the user fell out, injuring his head and having to go to hospital.

Another accident involving a heavy motorised wheelchair had been narrowly avoided, she said.

For more on this story, see this week’s Ivybridge & South Brent Gazette