Wetherspoon refutes discrimination accusation
An accusation that pub operator JD Wetherspoon called a wheelchair-bound woman a 'fire risk' has highlighted the challenge the trade faces over compliance with disability legislation.
Local and national newspapers reported that staff at the General Sir Redvers Buller pub in Crediton, Devon, ordered Annette Boucher out of the beer garden.
However, the company said it had simply asked Ms Boucher, who was with her daughter to move to another table because the wheelchair was blocking the fire escape from the garden.
A Wetherspoon spokesman said: "We would certainly never describe a customer as a fire risk. Normally, wheelchair access to the garden is through the bar, but in this case the customers had come in through a rough track, which is not actually owned by Wetherspoon. As a result, the wheelchair was in the way of a fire escape."
Other recent difficulties for publicans have include a licensee criticised for asking a group which included mentally handicapped adults to be quieter, as they were disturbing other customers. Another licensee was prosecuted after refusing admittance to a hearing dog accompanying a deaf customer.
