The hand operated brake used to maintain a secure position of a wheelchair has a hand grip (13) that operates the multi-linkage mechanism. The handgrip link (a) is hinged about a fixed point (A) and the link (h) that carries the brake pad (E) that is pressed against the tyre of the wheel (15) is hinged at the end to a second fixed point (B). The two links are connected by a third link (c) that is an axially compressible spring link. This has two cylindrical parts with a coil spring located in between. The hand brake lever is moved until the end (C) of the spring link passes through the dead centre position to lock the brake pad onto the wheel.
