CUSTOMERS who rely on wheelchairs or mobility scooters are not being well catered for by more than half of the businesses in Harrow town centre, an undercover shopper said.
Poorly designed store layouts, dismissive staff and inaccessible toilets were found by a volunteer from Christian disability charity Livability during a 'mystery shopping' survey she carried out at a sample of premises.
Mobility scooter user Helen Barnett entered shops, cafés and pubs – if she could get through the front door – to see how well those places adhered to the requirements of the Equality Act as well as how pleasant and easy an experience it was to carry out business.
She said: “It is unacceptable that so many outlets fail to welcome disabled people. “Access is still a major issue and too many of us in the capital are still prevented form integrating in the community and going about our daily lives.
“In many instances staff blatantly ignored me or made me feel unwelcome which is really upsetting.”
Ms Barnett claimed:
n staff in the Primark shop in St Ann's Shopping Centre failed to help as she tried to negotiate a shop floor littered with hangers and clothes with her scooter
n a lack of workers on the shop floor at the H&M store in St George's Shopping Centre meant she could not enquire whether they had an accessible changing room
n some shops such as Poundland, in St Ann's Road, and Tiger Tiger lacked enough room for people with a wheelchair or mobility scooter to move around comfortably
n the disabled toilets at the Yates's pub in Station Road are easy to enter but hard to exit due to lack of space to turn a scooter or wheelchair
Ms Barnett visited 17 outlets and said three of them provided a “completely negative experience”, six “failed to meet some of my expectations” and only eight provided “a fully positive experience”.
However, her survey, which took place in August 2010 and was conducted over a period of three weeks, also showed that Monsoon, Royal Oak pub, HMV, River Island, 99p Shop, Natwest Bank and BHS provided “excellent service and facilities”.
Mike Smith, Livability chief executive, said: “We would encourage shops and other high street businesses to do more to become fully accessible.
“It is also unacceptable that in many cases disabled people are made to feel unwanted and even a nuisance if they ask for help from staff.”