I have recently become disabled -- wheelchair bound. Luckily I am not pushing myself; my mum’s pushing me though I dread to think of the struggle it would be or the struggle it IS for others going out in Greenock town centre. Where do I start? The Westburn entrance to the mall -- doors are a nightmare, the automatic 'disabled' door sometimes doesn't work and, if it does, only one will open! Trying to squeeze through that one door (with my mum’s full weight trying to push through) is a nightmare. It's done damage to my wheelchair. Shops are just as bad with tiny aisles. You try to squeeze up them and knock items down and shop staff and on-lookers look in disgust at us. Some shops only have one door open and you again, struggle through with staff staring at you and don't bother to help. They look at us like we are in the wrong for trying to go in a shop in a wheelchair. I find it disgusting. It's 2012. Shouldn't all places and shops go through some sort of disability access assessment, to make sure the disabled are able to enter and get round the shop safely? To me, that's just as important as risk and safety assessments. I can't imagine the struggle people out alone in a wheelchair go through. It's a disgrace!

Lauren

-- My mother is now in a wheelchair and in the past few weeks I’ve had to complain on two occasions. She wanted to look at the range of shoes in Evans, on the upper level of the Burtons store.
On entering, I asked where the lift was, and, without looking up, was told by the assistant, there wasn’t one. I then asked how a wheelchair user was meant to get upstairs to the store, and they said the only way was to leave the mall, go through the underpass to West Stewart Street, along High Street where there is no pedestrian footpath, and enter through the loading bay.

Astonished by this answer, I contacted the Arcadia Group directly and received a reply saying they found this totally acceptable and had no plans at the moment to install a lift, and, should it be too difficult to use the Loading Bay entrance, the staff would be more than happy to bring items downstairs to be looked at. Just ridiculous.

I also had to contact a local hotel, whose wheelchair access is through a fire escape at the rear of the building but their excuse is it’s a listed building. It’s appalling, and sadly this is only the tip of the iceberg.

David G S

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