A FUNDING crisis has forced a charity which provides wheelchairs and scooters to disabled shoppers in Poole to slash its service in half.

Shopmobility, which loans motorised scooters and wheelchairs from its town centre base, has cut back opening times from six days a week to just three.

Graeme Lines, chairman of the charity Wheels for Freedom, which operates the service, said less than half of the service's £1,000-a-week running costs were met by funding from the Borough of Poole, and the charity had found it impossible to make up the difference through subscriptions and donations.

"This is done with great regret," he added. "The worse thing is we have a duty to the disabled community, and we feel very bad about the fact that we are having to reduce what we are there to provide."

Mr Lines said trustees were funding talks with another charitable foundation, which could see six-day-a-week provision restored, but he would not know until July.

He added: "It's very well used. It's one of the most successful Shopmobility schemes in Great Britain. When we are going full blast we can run 50 scooters, but at the moment we can't run more than 20. We can't afford to maintain, insure or staff them."

Simon Hendey, head of housing and community services at the Borough of Poole, said the council had awarded a £20,000 grant to support Shopmobility this year, and over the last two years it had given £57,000 in grants.

He added: "This amount includes two one-off grants totalling £17,000 to help Shopmobility maintain its services and prepare the organisation to operate efficiently within the £20,000 grant.

"The council will continue to work with Shopmobility to identify alternative funding in an effort to provide the mobility service to disabled people in Poole town centre for six days a week.

"The council has a responsibility to all council tax payers across the borough, and it cannot continue to provide additional funding without a guarantee from Shopmobility that it is able to operate within the available grant."

Shopmobility, based at Kingland Road multi-storey car park, is now open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday instead of Monday to Saturday.