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access A year since new regulations on disabled access came into force, and legal action against pubs failing to comply is still thin on the ground....

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A year since new regulations on disabled access came into force, and legal action against pubs failing to comply is still thin on the ground. But it's only a matter of time before consumers put the law to the test, says Ian Cook

This Saturday an important anniversary will take place in the lives of licensees. Having said that, few will probably be aware of the date's significance.

On 1 October, sweeping new legal duties covering how pubs treat disabled customers will be exactly one year old. The new rules, which come under Part 3 of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act, cover disabled access to pubs and for the past year have required licensees and other business owners to overcome physical barriers to access for millions of disabled customers.

These are the last in a series of duties brought in under the goods and services part of the Act. The first set of changes introduced in 1996 outlawed outright discrimination against disabled customers. Then in 1999 new duties under the Act required businesses to make 'reasonable adjustments for disabled customers such as providing extra help or making changes to the way services are delivered.

The final tranche of regulations, introduced last year, require businesses to make 'reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their premises. Examples of adjustments are things like ramps or accessible toilets. Confusingly for pubs, the official answer to the question 'what is a reasonable adjustment? is that there isn't a definitive answer. It depends on things like the cost of the adjustment, the amount of disruption and several other factors, like resources and the size of the business.

There's been no rash of litigation

So what's been happening in the past 12 months? How have pubs responded to these rather vague new duties? The first thing to note is that there hasn't been a rash of litigation affecting pubs up and down the country. Does this mean pubs and their employees have risen to the challenge the law has set them? Or is it the fact that legal cases take a long time to come to court and a year isn't a long time in law?

In truth it's probably a question of the latter as much as the former. A year isn't a long time, particularly where the law is vague. As time ticks by, however, the likelihood of a disabled customer testing the law will increase, particularly if there is a view that not enough is being done. The most likely indicator of future litigation is, therefore, how disabled people feel about pubs and what pubs have done to meet their new legal obligations? Do disabled people think pubs have done enough?

A survey of access to pubs in four UK cities London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast carried out by disabled people was featured recently in the magazine Disability Now. It found a mixed picture of disabled customer satisfaction with pubs. One barman when phoned in advance hung up, saying that he didn't have time to discuss access. In another phone call the manager of an inaccessible pub offered to lift customers where necessary. On the whole the disabled drinkers carrying out the survey did seem to feel that staff attitudes were improving.

Not enough has been done

However, when it came to physical access, the area covered by the new legislation, it was a different matter. In London's Covent Garden wheelchair users could get into only 12 out of 23 bars they found recommended in a guide to good pubs. Of the 12 accessible pubs, only five had accessible toilet facilities. The disabled drinkers made criticisms of the slow speed of change and said they felt that not enough had been done to improve physical access since 1 October last year.

Of course this doesn't mean that the legal floodgates are about to open. The law only asks for reasonable adjustments. The real test of the law probably won't come for another two to three years as disabled people with a grievance get round to testing their legal rights. The most likely scenario is that litigation in this area will happen when a disabled person is backed by a pressure group or a campaigning body something that has happened several times in the short history of the Disability Discrimination Act.

There are several possible groups who may be ready to step in and back a disabled drinker who feels they have a strong case against a pub most notably the equality watchdog the Disability Rights commission. Nothing is planned at the present but Bert Massie chairman of the Commission which has backed previous legal actions antici- pates legal action after 2004. In 2002, writing the foreword to a Code of Practice, which gives guidance on Part 3, he wrote: 'There is undoubtedly some ambiguity and there are areas that will require testing in court. He singled out the new 2004 duties as being a likely area of litigation.

The UK has 8.5m disabled people

Whatever the likelihood of litigation there is another more positive message that the commission is keen to stress to all business groups. That is the size of and the importance of disabled people as customers. There are 8.5m disabled people in the UK, with a spending power estimated at £50bn. The message is that this money won't be going to any business where a customer can't get into the premises or where staff are unwelcoming or unhelpful.

One pub that has welcomed disabled customers with open arms is the Sun Inn near Craven Arms in Shropshire on the B4368. Pub owners Norman and Teresa Pearce have replaced steps with a ramp, built an accessible toilet, and put in two dedicated disabled parking spaces out of a total of 25 in the car park. The couple say that the Sun Inn has profited from these disability-friendly policies. According to Norman Pearce, on an average day, there is one customer using a wheelchair in the pub and there are usually one or two cars in the car park carrying disabled person's badges.

He thinks the value to his business from being disability-friendly is far greater than getting an occasional disabled customer. He puts it in the following way: 'If you can't accommodate one person in a wheelchair say in a coach party of 51 then you don't just lose one customer, you lose 51, as they will drive on somewhere else. It's a message that the Disability Rights Commission would like to see pub owners right across the UK take on board.

Where you can get free advice

The Disability Rights Commission has a helpline that businesses can use for information about the Disability Discrimination Act. The number is 08457 622633. There is also a guide produced by the Disability Rights Commission specifically for pubs, with practical tips on what changes they need to be looking at. It can be downloaded from the Commission's website at: www.drc.org.uk. Go to the publications section, then access to services, then guide to publicans.

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