Why a three-wheeled revolution could be coming to Cheshire

Hurtling down a Macclesfield hill at 16mph, I felt a sense of freedom that many of us take for granted — being able to jump in a car, onto a motorbike, or e-scooter and just go.

However, that freedom isn’t accessible to all in Cheshire. Many of those with mobility needs are left with a limited pool of options, which can also cause a deterioration in health through inactivity.

That’s why I joined up with Cheshire East’s cycling and walking champion, Cllr Suzie Akers Smith, Paul Hallinan of adapt-e trikes, and Catherine Beavis on a tour of the town centre.

They claim there is a great, untapped potential in recumbent bikes and trikes for those with mobility needs — but key barriers exist in cost, tax, and infrastructure preventing a three-wheel revolution.

The £7,500 tadpole trike I used for the morning

First though, a quick lesson on trikes.

A tadpole is a recumbent tricycle with two wheels at the front, and one at the rear. Its sibling, called a delta, has two wheels at the back and one in front — much like a reliant robin.

The tadpole I use on our five-mile jaunt around Macclesfield also has an electric boost to help power up hills.

After a very short lesson in Macclesfield Leisure Centre’s overflow car park, we’re off — and it’s surprisingly smooth.

Despite being far lower to the ground than I’m used to — I speak as someone who cycled to work for 18 months — the trike feels safe, stable, and easy to control.

Another unexpected feature is more courtesy from motorists.

As any regular cyclist would admit, their relationship with cars can be acrimonious at times, but on this grey morning I find I’m being waved through by all sorts of vehicles: White vans on their way to jobs, SUVs doing the school run, and buses ferrying shoppers to Tesco.

However, as we zip around residential roads, and move on to the main thoroughfares near to the railway station, some of the issues Suzie and Paul predicted spring up.

The first comes from the station manager, who says a trike of this nature — which can be folded to the same footprint of a fixed wheelchair — is not guaranteed to be able to be allowed onboard every rail service his platforms welcome.

The next comes around a mile later, on one of the few areas of the town we see which has specialised cycling provision installed.

Middlewood Way is described by Cheshire East Council as ‘an 11 mile, traffic-free greenway from Macclesfield to Marple’, which it is to normal bicycles.

The obstacles we confronted on Middlewood Way, some of the many we found during our 5 mile route

However, it’s not nearly as long for disabled trike users, with the installation of metal loops between a main road crossing — in an effort to stop motorbikes abusing the path, I’m told — preventing our three-wheelers from going more than a tenth of the route’s total distance.

“I did bring it up at council and the last cabinet and I did ask the question about making these environments more accessible — because that isn’t the only one, there’s loads all over the town and right across the borough,” Cllr Akers Smith says after our trip out.

“I am going to try and get it resolved as quickly as possible, because that discriminates against people like Catherine who can’t walk very far — but she can go all the way to Marple on the bike if there was access. I’m going to work really hard to remove that.”

Undeterred, we turn around and plot a new course through Macclesfield’s quieter routes.

Along the way, I learn more as to why these vehicles are prohibitively expensive for most people.

For starters, the trike I’m using costs an eye-watering £7,500.

It’s an incredible bit of kit, and has the ability to hand someone like Paul — who lost one of his legs to bone cancer — the complete freedom to tackle any terrain, including offroad routes.

Even lower-end models start at around the £3,000 mark, Paul tells me.

“In America, I know it’s an insurance-driven market, these are on insurance plans,” he says.

“So it’s recognised elsewhere in the world the benefit of what it does, because they look at it as ‘if we do this, it will save this much money because otherwise they will be on these drugs, rehab, and physio’, which is all far more expensive than a trike.

“The price generally comes down when the volumes go up. Generally, they’re all niche manufacturers with the trikes, but that comes with volume. The volume is going to come — everyone is living longer and they want to do more.”

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Those are also his motivations for advocating that these sorts of trikes should be available for prescription, in much the same way doctors can prescribe a gym membership.

You might wonder what difference prescription makes — but one key aspect is that it would remove the 20 per cent VAT on the trike.

“If they could take the VAT off, it would be the same as buying a wheelchair,” Cllr Akers Smith says.

“As Paul suggested, if it was prescribed — doctors can prescribe cycling to people or a gym membership — there’s no reason for them to prescribe one of these and they get it at a reduced cost, like the cycle to work scheme.”

Even without prescription, there is a precedent for a ‘double-standard’ on VAT, Catherine — who has neck, spine, and age-related mobility issues — adds.

“You can buy an adjustable bed anywhere — John Lewis, Arighi Bianchi — and it’s an adjustable bed,” she says.

“If you have a disability, you can claim VAT relief on it — so they do have a double standard with some pieces of equipment.

“Were an able-bodied person to buy an adjustable bed, they would pay VAT, but because I need it to get myself up and out of bed I can claim VAT exemption, and I did.

“They are not applying the VAT exemption evenly across the board.”

Finishing my trip, I understand that currently, those with mobility issues have three options: limited freedom, a mobility scooter, or a very expensive tricycle.

And now, the battle is firmly on to remove the barriers for the final one of those choices.

While active travel has dominated a lot of Cheshire’s political universe for some months — and will do for some more — one small team is fighting to make sure the group who it could matter most to are not left out.