Lack of disabled facilities costs restaurateur £2,000
A DISABLED Lancaster woman has been awarded £2,000 in damages after being unable to use the toilet in a city centre restaurant.
Jacqueline Bolton, who has multiple sclerosis, couldn't access the toilets in Crows during a night out with her friends.
At a civil claims hearing at Lancaster County Court last Thursday, Mr James Tinston, representing Mrs Bolton, claimed that under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Crows proprietor Alan Crookall had failed to make sufficient alterations to the King Street restaurant, so had failed in his duty as a service provider.
Mr Tinston said Mrs Bolton, of Hoghton Close, complained to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission after being unable to get her wheelchair into the toilet cubicle when she visited the restaurant in September 2007.
She told the court the incident had caused long term effects on her health.
"It makes me avoid going to places, and it makes me feel depressed that gradually my life is becoming more and more restricted," said Mrs Bolton.
She was diagnosed with MS in 1998 and has used a wheelchair for the past four years.
Mr Crookall said an access report had been carried out when he took over the premises 13 years ago, but it wasn't structurally possible to build a disabled toilet.
"I don't believe we have restricted ourselves completely against disability," he said.
"People in wheelchairs can get into Crows and have a meal. They can get into the toilets if they have sticks, but I can't make the toilets disabled."
District judge Mr John Ashton, who also awarded Mrs Bolton 588 costs, said: "The defendant pays lip service to the provision of disabled facilities but blinds himself to the reality.
"Maximising table numbers cannot always take priority over the provisions of disabled toilet facilities and it may no longer be reasonable to operate a relatively large restaurant without such facilities."
Afterwards, Mrs Bolton, 39, said she hoped the decision would put pressure on other local businesses to consider the needs of disabled people.
"This wasn't about the money," she said. "I just hope it raises awareness and helps other places to think about what they are doing."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Lancaster
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: West
