Government-backed motability scheme that could get you a free car
Taxpayers are funding cars for people with conditions including 'constipation', 'tennis elbow' and 'anxiety'. New figures reveal the government-backed Motability scheme is also being used to provide vehicles for drivers who have abused alcohol or drugs. Motability was set up to help those with serious physical disabilities get around. But the bloated scheme is now being used by people with a wide variety of ailments.
A table shows they include over 32,000 new motors for people suffering anxiety or other depressive disorders, while 40 cars went to people with 'tennis elbow', a condition which the NHS advises 'usually goes away with rest'. A further 20 people suffering from constipation made use of Motability, along with 190 who had 'social phobia', the official figures show. Ten people struggling with a 'failure to thrive' got a taxpayer-funded car, and so did another 20 with a 'food intolerance'. A full breakdown of the figures was released in response to a Parliamentary Question and published by the Guido Fawkes website which said some £600million was funnelled from the Department for Work and Pensions into the scheme in 2024, and, as of April, some 589,000 benefits claimants in England and Wales have the publicly-subsidised cars.
The way the scheme works, eligible benefit claimants – meaning those who receive an enhanced rate for qualifying mobility difficulties - can choose to swap a portion of their payments for a new car, scooter or powered wheelchair. The figures show that 800 cars have gone to people with obesity and 230 to those with Tourette's syndrome. Some 770 people with 'alcohol misuse' conditions and another 220 with drug misuse issues lease cars from Motability. The campaign group Crush Crime claims it is 'easier for a drunk-driver to get a free car than a lifetime driving ban', adding: 'Yes, they can get a car BECAUSE they have an alcohol problem.' Motability stressed that 'anyone with an unspent drink-driving conviction cannot drive our vehicles'. Motability came under fire recently as it emerged people online boasted of gaming the system to get new cars 'basically free'.
Incredibly, the publicly-funded private company is now so big it buys one in five new cars sold in Britain – and friends or relatives of Motability customers can drive them too. The boss earns £750,000 and – as the Mail revealed earlier this year – Motability is sitting on a £4billion stockpile. Meanwhile TikTok 'influencers' are fuelling the Motability scandal by encouraging Britons to cash in on brand new cars. A non-refundable advance payment based on the value of the vehicle due at the outset is required, but at a significantly lower cost. The scheme has been coming under fire for months amid fears the system is being abused.
The boom in claimants, who must be in receipt of benefits in the form of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), has proved lucrative for Motability, whose turnover soared to £7billion last year. Meanwhile Motability Operations, the company behind the Motability charity, is sitting on a surplus of £4billion - all of which is stemming from taxpayers' money. One TikTok 'influencer', masking his full face with a red balaclava, handed out tips to claim a £31,000 car for 'essentially free'. He tells his 25,000 followers the best way to obtain PIP and Motability, even advising people to take the Government to court if they are turned down. In one video, he reveals the best way to cash in on an Abarth 695 Sport, worth around £31,000, saying: 'To get this car, all you have to do is pay £599... but there's a catch. You have to be in the Motability scheme, meaning you have to be getting PIP, more specifically the Motability aspect of it. You need to get 12 points of that, however if you have a family member on PIP or if you are on PIP yourself you can exchange your allowance to get this car.'
In other videos, first reported by The Sun, he advises his followers how to find out if they are eligible for the Motability scheme and reveals how he acquired his Seat Arona, worth up to £29,850, 'for free'. Filming a video while driving around in the car, he says: 'A question I get asked a lot is how did I get my car completely free? I've got this car completely free, so the way I got this car was through the Motability scheme. 'The way I got this car was going into a dealership, giving them the letter, them confirming the benefit and just getting the car ordered... it came within four days.' Another user shared a video boasting how her four-year-old autistic daughter can be 'driven around in style' after the family replaced their Vauxhall Zafira with a flash new Skoda Kodiaq. The vehicle is usually worth around £36,000 but can be leased for £3,299 on the Motability scheme.
Motability claimants are supposed to prove they struggle to leave their home or cannot plan and follow a journey route without help to get the required '12 points'. John O'Connell, at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'The Government must look at the criteria before this situation gets worse.' Motability Operations, which runs the Motability scheme, said: 'To use the Motability Scheme, you must receive a higher rate mobility allowance. Eligibility for the allowance is determined and awarded by the Government.' The Department for Work and Pensions, which makes the decisions on who is eligible for disability benefit claims, said: 'People in receipt of an eligible benefit can choose to join the Motability Scheme. Any misuse of the scheme is a matter for Motability and, where appropriate, the police.'
One of the most notorious incidents involving a Motability recipient hit the headlines in May last year when a couple called Bernard (pictured) and Ann McDonagh were convicted of a string of 'dine and dash' offences. When the McDonaghs and their children went to the Bella Ciao restaurant in Swansea one day last April, they were clearly in the mood to splash out.
Their main courses included the two most expensive items on the menu – T-bone and fillet steaks – and when it came to pudding they ordered 'double desserts'. 'They wanted two brownies on a plate,' the owner of the restaurant said later. But when the time came to settle the £329 bill for her party of five, Mrs McDonagh tried to pay with a savings account card. After this had been declined twice, she told the proprietor: 'I'm going to go to the car to get another card, I'll leave my son here as proof that you can trust me.' Unfortunately, for Bella Ciao's bottom line, McDonagh Jr made a run for it shortly afterwards and the family made their escape in a blue Ford Transit van. It later emerged that the McDonaghs had been given the brand-new vehicle by Motability on a three-year lease but, far from putting them on the road to productive employment, it became their getaway vehicle.
Their choice of a Ford Transit is illustrative of the range of models that are available to Motability's clients, who are presented with an eye-catching catalogue of gleaming new vehicles. By handing over £60 of their weekly PIP mobility benefit, a claimant can find themselves driving away with an all-electric Dacia Spring – retail price £15,000 – for no upfront cost . In exchange for the full £75.75 weekly allowance, a claimant can 'purchase' a petrol Nissan Juke SUV – retail price £23,000. For people in dire need of assistance with transportation owing to a disability, these vehicles can be essential to their physical and mental wellbeing. But it becomes less clear as to the immediate benefits to the taxpayer when you look further down the list of vehicles purchased by Motability – which enjoys zero VAT on the hire and resale of its vehicles.
For an upfront payment of £7,999, customers can walk away with a brand-new BMW i4 M Sport, which retails at £50,000 and accelerates from 0-60mph in five seconds, or, for the same upfront price, a Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe. Once the lease on a vehicle is up, Motability sells it on the open market, with the profits going back into the company. Labour peer John Mann (pictured), who has previously raised concerns about the company, says: 'Motability is making too much money. It needs tighter criteria. There needs to be a return of some of this money they have accrued to the exchequer. I also question why it is necessary for its customers to change to a new vehicle so regularly. Cars last a long time and the whole point of Motability must be to help people live a normal life. Three years per car is too short a time-frame.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Powys County Times
18 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Jaguar Land Rover sales tumble after pausing US exports
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sales have slid sharply over the past three months after a temporary pause in exports to the US and the planned wind-down of older Jaguar models. The Tata-owned car maker revealed that retail sales slid by 15.1% to 94,420 units over the three months to June. Meanwhile, wholesale sales dropped by 10.7% to 87,286 units compared with a year earlier. The company said the significant fall in sales was partly driven by the pause in shipments to the US in April after President Trump's administration introduced new tariff plans. In April, the US government said it would launch an additional 25% tariff on car imports into the US, in an effort to encourage more car production within the country. However, the US and UK have since agreed a deal which would see a lower 10% tariff applied to the first 100,000 UK-manufactured cars imported into the US each year. UK cars imported to the US beyond this threshold will however face a 27.5% tariff. JLR halted new shipments to the US in April but restarted exports in early May amid hopes that a trade deal for the sector would be struck. The car firm said on Monday that wholesale sales in North America dropped by 12.2% year-on-year after the pause. Wholesale sales in the UK plunged by 25.5% after the market was particularly hit by the 'planned cessation of the legacy Jaguar models'. Jaguar stopped selling new cars in the UK late last year as it shifts its production to new electric models, which are set to go on sale in 2026.
Times
44 minutes ago
- Times
Charity won't give parents of dying girl, 2, £100k in donations
A couple whose nine-year-old son died of cancer and whose daughter is terminally ill claim that a charity refused to hand over £100,000 of donations. Kyle Morrison was diagnosed in 2019 with an incurable brain cancer. Before his death, supporters donated thousands to pay for potential treatment in the US and 'memory making' experiences for the family. However, the Covid pandemic meant that the family could not travel before the boy died a year later. His parents, Craig Evison and Victoria Morrison, went on to have a daughter, Ruby-Rose, now two, but she too is seriously ill with a genetic metabolic disease and is said to be unlikely to live beyond this summer. The couple launched a GoFundMe page — under the name 'Ruby-Rose's Making Memories Fund' — in an attempt to take her to Disney World. But when they tried to claim almost £100,000 left from the money donated for their deceased son, the parents were told it would not be paid because Ruby-Rose was not suffering from cancer. The parents have now launched a High Court claim against Gold Geese, the charity that holds the money, claiming it should fund their daughter's trip to see her beloved Minnie Mouse. However, officials at the charity have told the court that the money cannot be paid out because the donations were made for Kyle when he was a cancer patient. They argue that the funds can be spent only on medical trials or another child in a 'similar' situation to the couple's son. The judge, Marc Glover, was told that Kyle was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare form of cancer, when he was eight. A significant amount was raised through Golden Geese, which is based in Essex, and Kyle was scheduled to travel to the US for treatment in late 2020. By the time that pandemic restrictions were eased, the boy was too ill and he died in October of that year. The parents, who also have another son, went on to have their daughter, Ruby-Rose, in 2022, but she was diagnosed with Megdel syndrome, a genetic metabolic condition characterised by high levels of acid in the body, which is usually fatal in early infanthood. Representing themselves in court, the couple have told the judge that their daughter was unlikely to live beyond this summer. They said that the money raised for Kyle should now go to their daughter. Morrison told the court: 'We just want the money to make as many memories as we can.' But William Moffett, a barrister representing the charity, responded that the fund raised for their son could be used only for children with cancer, not other diseases. The lawyer referred to a contract agreed by the parents stating that if the money were not spent on their son's treatment before he died, it would go to a trial or the cause of a child in a 'similar' position. Moffett said that it would have been impossible for donors to the son's cause to have meant for the money to benefit Ruby-Rose, as she had not been born at the time that it was pledged. The barrister reminded the court that 'Gold Geese is a cancer charity, it's on its logo', before adding: 'There are other charities whose objects would include assisting someone with Ruby-Rose's condition, but it wouldn't be proper for Gold Geese to stray outside the illness of child cancer.' The charity's position is that it was behaving as it was 'legally obliged to do within the ambit of their purpose'. However, the couple insisted that the contract allows money to be spent for Ruby-Rose's benefit, as they maintained that their daughter fell into the definition of a 'similar' case, as stated in the agreement. The judge will rule at a later date.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Major motorway is forced to a standstill after horror crash involving eight lorries and cars - as beer barrels spill across lanes
A horror crash involving eight separate vehicles brought one of the UK's major motorways to a standstill today. The M60 was closed in both directions between J25 Bredbury Interchange and J1 Pyramid Roundabout in Stockport following the incident. The eight-vehile crash involved four lorries and four cars - and left silver beer barrels littered across multiple lanes. Photographs from the scene showed one of the heavy goods vehicles (HGV) lodged into the central reservation barrier, having knocked down several lamp posts. Another of the large lorries had shed its load on to the road, with silver kegs littering the motorway. Emergency services were called to the scene at 11.26am, at which point the motorway was shut in both directions, according to the Tameside Reporter. Three people were taken to hospital for additional treatment, while a further six were treated at the scene for minor injuries, the North West Ambulance Service said. That section of the M60 is expected to remain closed in both directions for a substantial amount of time due to the amount of infrastructure damage, National Highways said. Another of the large lorries shed its load of large beer barrels across multiple lanes of the motorway Emergency crews have to deal with spillage, debris clean-up and the recovery of several substantially damaged large vehicles. Additionally there are several ruptured fuel tanks from the collision which have resulted in a large amount of diesel across the carriageway in both directions. A statement from National Highways said: 'All road users caught within the closures have been released. 'There are long delays on approach to the closures and we advise road users to allow extra time for their journeys. 'We apologise for the inconvenience caused whilst clean up and repair works take place and thank you for your patience if impacted.'
