A MUM and daughter who visited Redditch town centre this week were almost caught short after searching for half an hour to find an accessible disabled toilet.
And such was their discomfort and disappointment that the pair, who come from Stourbridge, say they won’t be hurrying back to the town.
To make matters the worse their ordeal happened in the week that Redditch Shopmobility celebrated its 30th birthday.
Jayne Davis and her 86 year-old mum Barbara Swift visited Redditch on Tuesday (June 27) and while shopping in the Kingfisher Centre Barbara needed to use the toilet.
The pensioner had recently undergone an operation and is currently using a wheelchair and requires some assistance due to her reduced mobility.
However when the pair asked staff at the shopping centre to open the disabled facilities for them, they were told staff didn’t know where the keys were and that they couldn’t be unlocked.
The staff did offer to contact a member of the cleaning team to find a key, but the pair were unable to wait any longer.
In an increasingly stressful situation, they next visited Redditch Library – which advertises on its website that it has disabled toilets.
Disappointed
But Barbara and Jayne were met with the same problem. Library staff told them the keys couldn’t be found and the toilets couldn’t be opened at that time.
Jayne, aged 51, said: “It is enough to put you off coming to Redditch. I am bitterly disappointed at the customer service.
“My mum has recently had an operation and was in desperate need of the toilet. What were we supposed to do?”
In then end and in despair they decided to try a town centre pub – The Rising Sun – and it was third time lucky for Barbara.
“We saw a pub and thankfully they were very accommodating,” she said.
“Redditch doesn’t seem to be a disabled friendly town. Hopefully things will change but after our ordeal I’m never coming here again.”
A spokesperson at Kingfisher Shopping Centre, said: “We are sorry to learn that a customer was unable to gain quick access to the facilities in this instance.
“We are committed to making sure that the centre is user-friendly for all our customers, and have now made further arrangements for customer services staff to be able to provide the access required to anyone wishing to use the facilities on site.”
A Worcestershire County Council spokesperson said: “There is a radar key system in operation at Redditch Library to allow disabled customers to let themselves into disabled toilets. We would like to offer our apologies if the customer in question encountered difficulties with access.”
