Tandem bicycles should be classified as adaptive bikes and exempt from VAT when purchased by visually impaired people, a Paralympic champion has told the government.
In an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lizzi Jordan, a six-time world champion on the track who won gold at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, argued that the current legislation discriminates against blind and partially sighted cyclists, creating unnecessary financial barriers which prevent them from “getting all the benefits of cycling that others just take for granted”.
According to the UK’s tax rules, some cycles can be purchased VAT-free through self-declaration, as long as the cycle is deemed to have been designed or adapted to meet a disability-related need. That means tricycles, hand bikes, and cycles with supported seating or enhanced stability, as well as adapted tandems, qualify as VAT-exempt.
However, standard issue, non-adapted tandem bicycles do not fall under this category as they are not exclusively used by disabled people despite, as Jordan points out, being essential for visually impaired cyclists to safely enjoy the benefits of riding a bike.
In her open letter and accompanying campaign video, released on Wednesday morning, the 28-year-old called for tandems to be exempt from tax, noting that the current situation represents a barrier to cycling for blind people, due to tandems often being significantly more expensive than standard bikes, despite serving an accessibility purpose.
“I am campaigning to ensure that every blind ad partially sighted person in our country has the right to access something as simple as a bike,” Jordan said in the video.
“Current legislation discriminates against visually impaired people as tandems are not recognised as an adaptive bike. Improving access to tandems would help to promote physical exercise, travel, and social inclusion.”
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Jordan said she was inspired to launch her campaign based on her own experiences, saying sport and cycling “saved” her after she suddenly lost her eyesight at the age of 19 following complications from a rare e-coli infection, which left her in a coma for two months.
After relearning how to walk and running the London Marathon 18 months after her hospitalisation, Jordan was invited to a British Cycling ‘Talent ID’ day in 2020, eventually joining the para-cycling Foundation Team.
Within two years, she was a world championship medallist on the track, winning gold the following year in Glasgow in the mixed team sprint. With pilot Danni Khan, she won Paralympic gold in the 1km time trial in Paris, along with a further five world titles and a Commonwealth Games medal.
“It was extremely scary and I literally turned to sport to save me,” she says of her battle with illness and her discovery of cycling. “It gave me such a sense of freedom, because I couldn’t get out and about on my own, but when I was on a bike, I felt like I was on my own because I could just have a pilot on the front.
“Now that I’m so lucky to have the platform that I do, I began thinking, how could I help others to ensure that they can get into cycling? I was surprised to discover that tandems, despite being the only bike blind people can cycle on, are not VAT exempt as they are not recognised as an adaptive bike.
“It’s simple. Tandems aren’t a luxury benefit. They are basic accessibility tools and access to physical exercise for visually impaired people.”
According to data gathered by Sport England, 43 per cent of disabled people are inactive, compared to 23 per cent of non-disabled people, while a recent study by the Royal National Institute of Blind People found that blind and partially sighted working-age adults are about half as likely to be in paid employment as their non-disabled counterparts.
“Current laws create unnecessary financial barriers,” Jordan added. “This stops visually impaired people from getting all the benefits of cycling that others just take for granted.”
In her open letter to Chancellor John Healey ahead of the autumn budget, Jordan argued that the financial contribution required by the government to recognise standard tandems as adaptive bicycles would be just £26,000 a year, despite having a potentially “transformative” societal impact.
“While I have chosen to pursue elite sport, cycling offers so many benefits and this ask is simply about equality in everyday life,” she wrote.
“I feel it is my moral duty to use my platform now to ensure that every blind or visually impaired person in this country has equal access to something as basic as more affordable bicycles.
“This campaign presents the government with a practical, affordable, and highly visible opportunity to improve disability inclusion in the United Kingdom. The financial impact of this recognition would be minimal (around £26,000 per year), but the social impact would be transformative.
“This is a fairness issue. It is an accessibility issue. And it is an opportunity for the government to make a meaningful change.
“I urge the government to please formally recognise standard tandem bicycles purchased by visually impaired individuals as adaptive bicycles with regards to the VAT exemption. I would welcome a meeting with you and your team to discuss this important issue, and opportunity, in more detail.”
