Disabled people say it's a lifeline. The EU says it's a leisure vehicle

People who rely on motorised scooters to help to cope with disabilities are to be hit with a £300 tax, after an EU ruling that they should be categorised along with "leisure vehicles".

The electric power-driven wheelchairs with flexible handlebars are used by people with severe mobility difficulties, such as disabled ex-servicemen. They are now taxed in the same class as snowmobiles, jet skis and racing cars.

A personal appeal has been made to Gordon Brown to intervene, but there has been no response from Downing Street, according to Jim Dooley, who runs the Mobility Bureau that provides motorised wheelchairs and scooters for hundreds of Service veterans.

Under the EU ruling the scooters are now subject to a £300 import tax on top of their £2,000 cost. The decision by the EU was made in 2001 but it was not properly implemented by Revenue & Customs until this year, after a complaint from Belgium that the required 10 per cent import tax was not being enforced by Britain.

Mr Dooley, who was lead singer of the Dooley Brothers pop group before devoting his life from 1992 to the disabled, said that only three European countries imported the motorised scooters. Countries such as France and Germany manufactured their own, he said. Britain imports them from the US and the Far East.

A spokesman for Revenue & Customs said: "Import duty on motorised scooters is required by the EU. It is classified as a vehicle for transport, so it is liable to tax." Mr Dooley said he had been told that they were classed as "leisure vehicles". He wrote to Downing Street in July to complain and received a note from the Treasury to say that the matter would be looked into, but he has heard nothing since.

"This tax is totally unfair, and for many people the extra £300 makes them think twice," he said.

The EU decision was based on an opinion offered by the World Customs Organisation (WCO), which looked into the various forms of electric powered vehicles. "Apparently, they thought that people might buy motorised scooters for going round golf courses, but these are not suitable or safe for golf courses," Mr Dooley said. America had dismissed the opinion of the WCO, he said, but the EU had enforced the import tax.

The Mobility Bureau works closely with the Royal British Legion to help disabled ex-servicemen with motorised wheelchairs and scooters. Charlie Mansford, 70, a former national serviceman, depends on his motorised scooter. He was fortunate because it was provided by the Royal British Legion. "To describe this as a leisure vehicle is an insult to disabled people," Mr Mansford said.

He uses his scooter to go around the area near his home in Hungerford, Berkshire. "But I use the footpaths. I would never go on the road, so you can hardly say it is a normal form of transport," he said. He suffers from severe spinal problems. "Without the scooter, I would be housebound."