MEMBERS of a free mobility scooter service in Harrow held an emergency meeting this morning to plan a strategy to save the service after a £15,000 council grant cut.

Harrow and Wealdstone Shopmobility, based at St George’s Shopping Centre, in St Anne’s Road, is appealing to the public for support to save the service after losing the funding from Harrow Council.

The charities across the borough likely to get a share of £545,000 next year by the council were revealed at a full council meeting last Thursday.

Funding for 31 projects were proposed for organisations, including Mind in Harrow and Harrow Mencap, but the total pot has been cut by 15 per cent on last year.

Other charities to lose out include Ignite Trust, which works with vulnerable children, Flash Musicals and Aspire.

Shopmobility started in 1994 by president of the organisation, Vera Murray-Fowler, 84, from Harrow, who has been using the service herself for two years.

It provides a service from Monday to Friday and the first Saturday of every month to people who wish to borrow one of 25 scooters or 60 wheelchairs.

Users can use the mobility scooter around the town centre and wheelchairs can be taken away by people for a fortnight.

Chairman Gaye Branch said the £15,000 was necessary to cover the cost of a manager and insurance for the group, which has 22 volunteers.

She added: “The daily decision-making the manager makes, the paperwork, all the procedures is how this office is run and is vital to the group.

“What we want to now know is the criteria for why we weren’t given the money.

“We also want to know why we weren’t informed immediately by the council about us being on the list of organisations not chosen for funding.

“The impact on certain people's lives will be awful. We need the public to support us and we have petitions already on the go and are urging people to come and take up the cause.

"We will present this petition to the council and see what can happen from there."

Mrs Murray-Fowler said: “It is such an essential service for housebound elderly people who are dependent on care workers.

“People are allowed to be more independent through this service, which is extremely important. The users can vary from someone with a sprained ankle to someone who is at home alone all the time and needs some time outside. It's a terrible decision.

“We can’t totally rely on volunteers. The volunteers are the wheel but the manager is the hub who keeps it all together.”

Council spokesman, Cristian Marcucci, said all cabinet decisions are published online following cabinet meetings.

He added: “The decisions following the meeting on Thursday were published on Tuesday.

“There has then been a five day call-in period after which we write to organisations to inform them whether or not they have been successful.

“They will then be informed of the appeals process and the grounds upon which they can appeal.”

He added that the council would also provide information through an officer about external funding streams.