I've been engaged in a long running battle with the Devizes branch of Superdrug. Victory has been won, and Superdrug deserve to be lavishly praised for their grace under fire.
Skirmishes commenced last year when I tried to get into the store to buy razor blades. There was a small, short, steep ramp to get in. This would have been manageable if the doors were open. However, when closed, the doors were too heavy for me to open without falling over, as my chair was tipped back on the ramp.
I like to try to resolve issue quickly and locally. I ask to speak to the store manager about the doors. "Oh, we've raised the question with Head Office but nothing's happened so far". I therefore send my (personalised) standard email:
Dear Superdrug
I am emailing to complain about the discrimination I experience every time I shop at the Superdrug shop in Devizes. I raised this issue in the shop itself and was told to "contact Head Office". This I am now doing. I am a independent permanent wheelchair user with no use of my legs whatsoever. I have poor balance and my wheelchair tips backwards easily.
The Superdrug in Devizes has a small but steep ramp to the door. The doors are heavy and hard to open. I cannot open them by myself without the risk of falling. I must therefore wait for a passer by to help me or try to attract the attention of a member of staff. I encounter the same problems when I leave the shop through the separate exit. This is unacceptable in the outlet of a major retailer. I should not have to ask or wait for assistance. I would expect the doors to be automatic, as they are in every other large shop in the town.
Under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act, you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people can use your services. Under the DDA, it is unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability. Most people do not have to ask for help to enter Superdrug in Devizes. I do. Your failure to provide automatic doors is clear evidence that Superdrug is treating me, and other wheelchair users, less favourably than other people.
Unless you replace the existing doors with automatic ones at your shop in Devizes, I will begin a claim against you under the Disability Discrimination Act. I will seek compensation for your treatment, and a court order to demand adjustments.
I look forward to hearing from you within ten working days. If I have heard nothing by 12 January 2009, I will begin proceedings against you.
Yours
Andrew Farrow
I get a speedy response:
Dear Mr Farrow,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I apologise for the inconvenience caused. I will be passing a copy of your e-mail on to our Property Department to investigate. Could you please forward us your postal address so we can write to you formally once investigation is complete?
Kind Regards
Superdrug Customer Relations
It seems things are going to move swiftly along. I'm therefore surprised to hear nothing for several weeks. I chase and then receive the following letter:
Dear Mr Farrow
Thank you for your email to our Customer Relations Department prior to Christmas, raising the issue of access into the Superdrug store in Devizes. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced trying to enter the shop.
THe store has been provided with a bell and signage at the entrance, for all members of the public to press should they require assistance entering the premises, in the event that the front entrance doors are closed. I have been advised by the Store Manager that many members of the public are making use of this facility and are finding it much easier to enter the premises.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and if you have any further concerns or problems, please do not hesitate to contact me
Yours
SC
Health, Safety and Insurance Administrator.
I'm amazed. Do they really think it's OK for a major retailer to offer a doorbell as a solution? It As I wrote in my original email, "under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act, you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people can use your services." Is providing a doorbell a "reasonable adjustment"? I'd promised to myself in my New Year's resolutions that I would follow complaints through to their logical conclusion. I'm willing to take Superdrug to court to find the answer to this question.
I therefore email again:
Dear Ms C
Thank you for your letter of 10th February. I am surprised that it has taken over a month to answer my initial complaint. And I was disappointed by your response.
You appear to suggest that having a bell and signage at the store entrance is sufficient for anyone requiring assistance. I have to ring the bell and then wait for help, whatever the weather. As I noted in my original email, under the DDA, it is unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability. By forcing me to wait for assistance, you are treating me, and any others who need help, less favourably than other people.
For a major retailer, this is unacceptable. I note that in 2007 Superdrug spent £46 million on a "beauty investment programme" for 440 stores. I think it reasonable to expect that Superdrug spends some money on installing automatic doors in the Devizes store. I think these could be considered "reasonable adjustments" under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act.
I therefore return to my original course of action: unless you replace the existing doors with automatic ones at your store in Devizes, I will begin a claim against you under the Disability Discrimination Act. I will seek compensation for your treatment, and a court order to demand adjustments.
I look forward to hearing from you within ten working days with the action you intend to take and a timescale for doing so. If I have heard nothing by 6th March 2009, I will begin proceedings against you.
I look forward to hearing from you.
A while later, it seems as if the stakes have gone up:
Good morning Mr Farrow
Thank you for your email - I have passed your mobile number onto the Store's Area Manager PB. He will be in contact with you shortly to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet up at the store, to meet the Store Manager, discuss the store's future open door policy and any other ways in which we may assist you whilst shopping in Superdrug.
I head into town for my meeting with the Area Manager. He's responsible for a number of Superdrug stores in the South West. When I get there, I'm delighted to see that engineers are working in the shop doorway.
It turns out that the store's "open door" policy is literally that: to have the doors open all the time. It is too expensive to install automatic doors. However, Superdrug have come up with an alternative: to install super-heaters above the entrance and exit doors. The heat generated by these creates, in effect, an invisible warm door. The temperature inside the store remains constant through air-conditioning. It's an impressive solution and, as PB, the Area Manager, points out, one that they'd been planning to implement for a while. However, they were stirred into speedy action by my complaint. The other surprising effect of my complaint is that PB has himself visited all the stores in his region with a fresh eye, specifically looking at access. Changes are afoot. Various friends are delighted, commenting that now they can easily get in to the store with their pushchairs and shopping. I'll be able to get in without assistance. As I used to say when I was helping lottery applicants meet the criterion of accessibility, you're not just benefitting people with mobility impairments when you make your building accessible.
I'm impressed that Superdrug have decided to not just resolve the immediate issue but to go beyond it and consider all their stores in the region. And I'm relieved that I don't have to take them to court. I might well win, but I imagine the up front costs will be high. I'm sure I'll find out another day. In the meantime, let's give a round of applause for stupendous Superdrug.
