We, the undersigned — including licensed wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) drivers and the disabled residents who rely on them — petition Mid Sussex District Council to extend the maximum licensed vehicle age for wheelchair accessible vehicles from 10 years to 13 years, subject to the Council's existing enhanced 6-monthly vehicle fitness testing regime, mirroring the extension to 15 years approved for electric vehicles in July 2026.

 

WHY THIS MATTERS

 

In July 2026, Mid Sussex District Council backed extending the licensed age limit for electric taxis from 10 to 15 years, because they cost more to buy and need longer to pay back. Exactly the same logic applies — even more strongly — to the wheelchair accessible taxis that disabled residents depend on. Yet WAVs must still be scrapped at 10 years.

 

• A wheelchair accessible taxi costs £35,000–£75,000 — around double a standard saloon — because of the specialist conversion (lowered floor or lift, ramps, wheelchair restraints).

 

• WAVs earn less, too: many able-bodied customers avoid booking them, and the law rightly requires drivers to provide wheelchair loading and assistance at no extra charge.

 

• When a safe, well-maintained WAV is forced off the road at 10 years, many drivers cannot afford the replacement — so Mid Sussex loses another accessible taxi, and wheelchair users lose another way of getting to hospital appointments, work and family.

 

• Mid Sussex has only around 50 WAV proprietors. Every single one lost matters.

 

• The Council's own policy (December 2024) is that all new hackney carriage licences are WAV-only, to increase accessible provision — and government best-practice guidance expressly links relaxing age limits to increasing wheelchair accessible provision.

 

• Other councils already do this: Buckinghamshire licenses WAVs to 15 years, Cheltenham to 14, and Hastings is proposing 15.

 

• Safety is fully protected: all Mid Sussex licensed vehicles over 3 years old already pass two Council fitness tests per year plus an MOT — and we support those checks continuing.

 

We ask for only 2–3 extra years for WAVs, not the 5 years granted to electric vehicles.

 

THE ACTION WE WANT THE COUNCIL TO TAKE

 

To amend the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy so that the Council will license wheelchair accessible vehicles (as defined by the Council's designated list under section 165 of the Equality Act 2010) up to 13 years of age from first DVLA registration, subject to the Council's enhanced vehicle testing requirements.

 

IMPORTANT — WHEN YOU SIGN

 

The Council can only count signatures from people who live, work or study in the Mid Sussex District (Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, East Grinstead and the surrounding towns and villages). When you sign, please add a comment saying your town and your connection — for example "Live in Burgess Hill" or "Work in Haywards Heath". It makes your signature count.

 

This e-petition runs alongside a paper petition with identical wording; both will be submitted together to Mid Sussex District Council under its Petitions Scheme, which welcomes petitions made through change.org.