Letter to the BBC.

31/07/95

To:

"Top Gear",
BBC World Service,
Bush House,
London, The UK.

Dear Sir,

As a constant viewer of "Top Gear" and a handicapped driver, I was pleased to see the two items on cars equipped for handicapped drivers. One of the items was replayed last Saturday (29/7/95).

I would like to add another related subject for investigation: the availability of cars with hand-controls for rent. I have long experience with it, not all is positive. I'll start with my conclusions. If you'll be interested, I'll send you the facts from the experience of my friends and myself.

The customer cannot rely on his local travel agent and the reservation offices of the big rental companies. I got negative answers from them when I asked for a car with hand-controls, but when contacting some companies directly, the answer was positive in some cases.
The type of hand-controls offered by the companies are very different and strange in many cases. For the safety of the driver and to avoid unpleasant surprises there should be a standard.
There are in the market some types of portable hand-controls (one of which is offered by the British company Lynx). These systems may be installed in minutes in any automatic car. Handicapped drivers with strong enough hands may operate them with no problem. Their legal status in various countries is not clear.
At least in one country (Spain), an international car rental company offers only small manual cars with hand controls. The controls are very complicated and include electrically operated clutch switched by a lever far away from the steering wheel, the hand-controls and the gear lever. Such systems were essential 40 years ago, when automatic transmissions were rare or expensive. They may be fun for sport drivers like the one that appeared in your last program. Today's handicapped driver is not trained for manual transmissions and there is no need for it: one may find cheap automatic cars with small engines, or larger cars for any practical purpose. They can take the driver anywhere as good as the small manual cars with complicated hand-controls.
Considering the alternatives for an independent handicapped traveler who has some business abroad or wants to attend scientific meetings and see the world, it should be considered to regulate the subject: Each large car rental company should make available some cars with hand-controls. As stated above, for standard cases a portable system may be installed, so there is no need to dedicate special cars for it. The alternatives for renting a suitable car may be either very limiting or expensive.
In some places small car rental companies and garages take advantage of the special needs of handicapped drivers. They offer old cars with hand-controls at very high prices, limiting rental terms and bad service.

I hope that the above mentioned points will trigger an item in your program Top Gear. I'll be happy to supply details if you are interested. I think it will bring the subject to many potential users and help make this service available in more places.

Sincerely yours,

swfm...

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