Macclesfield’s Grosvenor Shopping Centre Has Banned Customers In Wheelchairs And Mobility Scooters
This is unbelievable. It is blatant disability discrimination. Turn the lifts off if you have to but make other access arrangements or adjustments. There is absolutely no excuse for banning disabled customers. If the centre is not safe for wheelchair users, it’s not safe for anyone and should be closed to everyone until it is safe again.
Please, readers, please, share this post as widely as possible. I’ll be sharing it with every media outlet I can think of.
Wheelchair users have been banned from entering the Grosvenor shopping centre after orders from fire chiefs.
On Thursday security guards are stopping people in wheelchairs and mobility scooters from entering the premises.
And those accessing the ground-level indoor market have been given escorts to prevent them entering shops.
It follows a safety inspection by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.
But the move has provoked upset and anger from bewildered customers.
Diane Parton, 51, has staged a protest by the outdoor market, refusing to leave.
She said: “We are being told by staff that the centre failed a fire safety inspection because in an emergency anyone in a wheelchair or scooter in one of the shopping units cannot get out without having to go up or down stairs.
“I don’t know what has changed, but I’ve been coming here for years without any problem.
“The disabled and elderly are being discriminated against. It’s outrageous.”
Nora Leigh, 93, was also escorted from the building when she entered the centre.
She said: “This place is our lives. We come here for shopping, for company. It’s hopeless.”
One woman, who didn’t want to be named, remonstrated with security staff after her grandmother was asked to leave.
She said: “I’m fuming. She’s an 85-year-old woman and she has been told to leave. She’s very upset.”
A sign posted outside the centre said: “Following instruction from Cheshire Fire Authority, we regret that we are currently unable to allow access to the Grosvenor Centre for disabled or mobility impaired persons.
“We are working with our tenants and the Fire Authority to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”
Eskmuir Securities, which owns the shopping centre, and Cheshire Fire Service, have yet to comment on the incident.
Same Difference 
Absolute disgrace, all disabled and their partners and family and friends should no BLOCKAID THE BUILDING.
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Reblogged this on 61chrissterry and commented:
As this appears to be a Health and Safety issue, then the centre should be closed until further notice. Mobility is not only a factor with wheelchairs as there are many other other aspects of mobility, this is discrimination to selective groups of the community.
If they ban wheelchair users and scooter users from here on health and safety many more places will follow rather than provide evacuation chairs and trained staff. What is the point of the Equality Act when even with many DWP owned premises we are prevented from entering or told to leave because we are a health and safety/ fire risk. Most of us would take a few risks rather than be left virtually housebound recluses.
How many buildings used by members of the public have evacuation plans in place for all users of the building, not just the mobile ones.
This is an utter disgrace! What about those who work there? The whole shopping centre should be closed until it is safe for ALL members of the public. A place that is unsafe for the disabled and elderly is a place that is unsafe for everyone.
So what the hell has happened to the Equality Act? Cheshire Fire Service will soon be having feeling the heat, and the sooner the better. I bet every Shopping Centre in this country complies with the Equality Act.
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Reblogged this on Citizens, not serfs.
We went here today, and were refused entry but we declared we were entering in protest and did so regardless, the manager followed us around asking us to leave but we politly refused as a matter of principle. We met two other people on scooters and sat with them in process. It was actually very amusing four disbled people surrounded by no less than 17 security personnel imaggine how much its costing them.
There are no staff there trying to help you, they are all just trying to get you to leave.
All disabled people should go to macclesfield in the next werk to let them know we are not going to be discriminated against, we are not living in 1930s germany After all.
Good on you! And thanks for sharing. Best wishes, samedifference1.
They also stopped people who had more than one child as well. The centre was not designed with modern health and safety in mind it complied with the standards required nearly 50 years ago. This is a fire safety issue and nothing to do with discrimination and the centre will be open to everyone again in a few days. I am a Macclesfield resident and also a mobility scooter user.