Great news

We have been working with the City of York Council for nearly twenty years, since 2003, and it is our great pleasure to announce they have renewed our mobility maintenance contract again.

“It’s a fantastic vote of confidence in Pickerings Lifts and our mobility engineers.” Said Carol Bott, Regional Manager for Mobility Servicing, Maintenance and Repairs.

We’re not a big corporate, so we have to work twice as hard for customers

“You know, we have to double-down on our customer service and the quality of work we do, because we’re not the biggest mobility company in the UK. And we have to do that every single day.

We work hard to meet and maintain the high standards our customers expect of us, so I’m really proud that all our engineer’s hard work shone through.

When the time came to re-tender for the City of York Council mobility contract, we scored a massive 96.25% on both quality and price… that’s no mean feat in today’s economic climate.”

An aging population needs more mobility care

“At the last census, 22% of the population of York were over the age of 60. On top of that, 23% of households in the area ran by the City of York Council, had at least one person with a long-term health problem or disability.

200,000 people. That was ten years ago, almost to the day, and I’m certain those percentages will have grown, because that’s the UK trend.

Every one of those households has the potential to need mobility services, and we’re helping the City of York do the right thing, by supporting them to stay as healthy, independent, and in their homes for as long as possible.”

Ceiling hoists, stair lifts and through-floor lifts

Pickerings Lifts maintain, service and repair 190 ceiling hoists, stairlifts and through-floor lifts across Council-owned residential properties across the region, from Heworth in the North East of York, to Foxwood in the South West of York.

Each unit is maintained twice a year in order to ensure that it runs smoothly and to reduce the likelihood of it needing repairing in the future.

They test each hoist every six months in line with the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER).

Carol also pointed out that “Because older citizens and disabled people in and around the City of York, are more reliant on stair lifts at all times of the day and night, we also provide emergency call-outs, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Pickerings Lifts also uninstall and remove stair lifts on behalf of the Council.

Qualified mobility engineers

All Pickerings Lifts mobility engineers are specialists, and qualified to at least NVQ Level 2 in servicing, repairing and maintaining all makes and models of mobility equipment, ensuring a fast and efficient fix.

Their current ‘first-fix rate’ – the percentage of visits where an engineer fixes the issue on the first visit – currently stands at a phenomenal 93%. This is due, in large part, to each engineer having the most common spares on their van, or on-call from their regional office.

Each engineer has also had customer care and safeguarding training.

Regional office backup

“To increase our office administration team’s knowledge of the City of York Council’s contract, we make it our responsibility to send our staff out on-call with our mobility engineers.” Continued Carol.

Kind words

But we’ll leave it to the customer to finish off this article. Here’s what Peter Ward at York City Council said…

“We have been working with Pickerings Lifts’ mobility team for many years and are delighted with the service they provide. The mobility aids they service and repair enable our older and disabled residents to live independently in their homes, greatly improving their quality of life.”

Further information

Find out more about our mobility repair and maintenance services.

Discover more on our mobility infographic.

Alternatively, email contact@pickeringslifts.co.uk for more in-depth enquiries