A COMPANY which started out selling DIY products is now one of the country’s leading suppliers of mobility equipment for disabled people.

RDK Mobility store, in Tonge Moor Road, Bolton, is still in the DIY market but it is the mobility business which has performed well in the recession and helped support the rest of the group.

And in addition to regular wheelchairs, one of the best growth markets for the company has been in sports wheelchairs, used in basketball, rugby and other sports.

Now RDK’s sports chairs, which the company imports from China and sells for £695, are used by some of Britain’s top disabled athletes, who compete against other athletes using chairs costing twice as much.

With the approach of the Olympic Games in 2012 followed by the Paralympics the company has ordered 40 sports chairs in anticipation of a sales boom.

The first DIY store was in Radcliffe which branched out into helping disabled people after requests to supply adapted kitchens, bathrooms and other equipment.

Now RDK Mobilty stocks everything from walking sticks to stairlifts and from motorised chairs to specially adapted Spanish holiday apartments.

The group with stores in Radcliffe, Bolton, Morecambe, Milnthorpe,Towcester and Mojacar in Spain, employs 40 people and has an annual turnover of around £2 million.

Owner and founder David Leinweber said: “We offer a fair and honest service to our customers. I run the business through Christian principles and I will not rip anybody off. We have been established for 25 years and always put the customer first.”

Mr Leinweber, who was born in London but evacuated during the war to live with his grandmother in Bolton, has brought the next generation into the business. Sons Nigel, who lives in Helmshore and Mark, who lives in Kendal, both now work in the business.

Nigel said: “We have weathered the recession because of our excellent customer service and the fact that mobility side has performed well. That’s the ethos of the whole company and all of the staff, especially Dean Southworth, sales manager, who really goes out of his way to help people who come to our store.

“Often the people who come to our store are elderly and vulnerable and we make sure that they are treated well at all stages.”

At 71, Mr Leinweber still travels to the Bolton store every day from his Lake District home, clocking up 1,000 miles a week: “I love what I do and I’ve no plans to give up work yet.”