About Us
1st Choice Stairlifts was established in February 2004 by Colin Major and Coral Affleck, who together have 35 years experience in the industry.
We are the only stairlift company based in Wiltshire, but we also cover Bath, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Hampshire and West Berkshire areas too. We provide a full range of stairlifts to suit all types of stairs and customer requirements - making sure the correct stairlift is always recommended. Additionally we have a range of wheelchair lifts for access indoors and outdoors for domestic homes and public buildings.
We provide a complete service, from sales and installation through to aftercare for our clients to give them added peace of mind.
1st Choice Stairlifts are members of the British Healthcare Trades Association and hold IS09001 Quality Management accreditation.
Key People
We employ a dedicated and experienced team of people at 1st Choice Stairlifts. Profiles of our key team members are below.
Coral Affleck, Director
Coral has over 13 years experience in the stairlift industry. She worked for large stairlift manufacturers Bison Bede and ThyssenKrupp in the Customer Services, Sales and Marketing departments, before forming 1st Choice Stairlifts with Colin.
Coral looks after the day to day running of the company and plans for the future to build the business and continue the huge success which has already been achieved.
Having qualifications in business and management studies, you can be assured that your decision to choose 1st Choice Stairlifts for a stairlift is in very safe hands.
Originally from County Durham, Coral moved to Wiltshire to start 1st Choice Stairlifts with Colin in 2004, but still retains her wonderful Geordie accent and that friendly northern charm.
“I’ve been in the industry for over 13 years now and plan to stay here for many years to come. Why do I do it? Because I live the job satisfaction of being able to help a customer to become independent in their own home and enjoy going upstairs with ease again.
My Grandma is 87 and she had her first stairlift fitted last year, which is proving a huge benefit as she has painful arthritis and osteoporosis to name but a few. Her condition causes her to loose balance on occasion and the family was worried in case she fell downstairs. A few weeks after her stairlift was installed, she phoned me to say that my mum had visited her to check all was working ok and that she can now take her ‘L-plates’ off!”
Colin Major, Director
Colin has spent 21 years in the stairlift industry, some 15 years of which were spent working for perhaps the world’s largest stairlift manufacturer, Stannah Stairlifts. During this time, Colin travelled the UK, Europe, Far East and USA teaching worldwide dealers how to survey, install and maintain stairlifts, as well as setting up exhibitions for the company.
He then moved onto working for a stairlift dealer to gain experience on all makes of stairlift, before setting up 1st Choice Stairlifts with Coral.
Colin is NVQ approved and oversees the sales, installations and engineering aspects of the business. With his many years of experience, gives assurance that you’ll get the best stairlift for the job.
“I especially like tackling complicated curved staircases because they’re a challenge to survey and give me the opportunity to fit stairlifts in places that other companies can’t - often because it’s too complicated or they don’t think it will fit. The satisfaction I get from my job is in helping people of all ages and disabilities to get up and down the stairs.”
In his spare time, Colin enjoys DIY, visiting the cinema and supporting Arsenal.
Mick Tobin, Senior Engineer
Mick is a very experienced engineer who spent 15 years working for Churchills Stairlifts and Access Industries, which was later bought by ThyssenKrupp, before joining 1st Choice Stairlifts in June 2005.
A fully-qualified fitter, Mick is an expert is stairlift assessment and technical engineering. He is NVQ approved in stairlift installation, service and maintenance.
Mick splits his spare time between entertaining his grandchildren and enjoying the 19th hole on the golf course! He also enjoys entering golf competitions, although his lack of wins suggests he needs more practice. Mick also likes posing for photographs (see above!) and is always available for modelling assignments!
“I get satisfaction in seeing customers smile and be able to get around their home independently. I meet different people every day and like to hear about their life experiences, which are always very interesting. We have a great team at 1st Choice Stairlifts, and that makes my job even more enjoyable.”
Lindsey Adams, Customer Services
Lindsey oversees the office administration functions for sales, order processing and servicing. She holds the NVQ Level 2 in Business Adminstration and NVQ Level 3 in Customer Services.
In her spare time Lindsey enjoys retail therapy, visiting the cinema and keeping in regular contact with her immediate family in Inverness and the USA.
“I enjoy my job because it’s about helping people. There’s plenty of variety in my work and our customers are always interesting people to chat to. It’s good to meet people when they visit our showroom, and make sure that they’re well looked after. I also enjoy chatting to people about 1st Choice Stairlifts when we go to exhibitions.”