I RECENTLY embarked upon a mission to find accommodation for some people who are coming to Oxford in a few weeks to see the sights.
You’d have thought it would be quite easy – Oxford’s full of places to stay, isn’t it?
My basic checklist was quite simple – a twin-bed room, with breakfast, within a short distance of the city centre, for under £100 a night.
Anybody who knows Oxford prices will see my folly already.
There are plenty of adequate budget chain hotels around the ring road but I was really looking for something a little closer to town and a bit more traditional and personal – a family-run bed and breakfast.
There are plenty of these places available, if you don’t mind spending some time phoning around to get the best possible deal.
That is, of course, until I mention the wheelchair.
All of a sudden, I went from having plenty of choice to virtually none.
Whilst many bed and breakfast establishments are accessible for a person who uses a wheelchair, very few have considered that a wheelchair user might be travelling with a carer with whom they want to share a room but not a bed – practically every place I spoke to had no twin rooms on the ground floor.
Those establishments who catered for such an eventuality were few and far between and were either fully booked or way out of my price range. One Oxford hotel wanted more than £400 for two nights bed and breakfast. Even suitable college accommodation was over budget.
Eventually I bit the bullet and booked one of those chain hotels on the ring road, who had plenty of rooms of the type we needed and were well within our budget.
So, this is a plea to the bed and breakfast owners of Oxford – when you are updating your premises and making them suitable for wheelchair users, please consider those disabled people travelling with their carers.
TRACY HOPE, School Court, Jericho, Oxford
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