[Apparelyzed]

Ruling on access to bank confirmed by court

Court of Appeal upholds landmark decision for disabled people

20 November 2009

The Court of Appeal today confirmed that the Royal Bank of Scotland had breached the Disability Discrimination Act by failing to provide access to its Sheffield branch for wheelchair users.

RBS had appealed the decision following a landmark judgment earlier this year in a case brought by David Allen, a wheelchair user, which was funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The original decision of the County Court was the first time that an injunction had been granted ordering work to be carried out on business premises to make a building accessible. Mr Allen was also awarded £6,500, the highest amount of compensation ever awarded in a case under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Mr Allen had brought the case against RBS alleging that he had been discriminated against because the bank was not wheelchair accessible. He had been forced to discuss personal details of his bank account with RBS staff on the street in full public view. He was also advised to use the nearest accessible RBS branch, even though it was ten miles away and amounted to a two-hour round trip by bus.

The Commission funded the Sheffield Law Centre to represent Mr Allen.

Lord Justice Wall said in today’s ruling that the bank could have taken steps to provide access for disabled people. He said:

'The bank did not take those steps, giving as its reason not the disproportionate cost of carrying out the work, but simply the fact that it would lose the use of an interview room.'

The Bank must now undertake the building work at an estimated cost of £200,000.

John Wadham, the Commission’s Group Director, Legal, said the result was a victory for all disabled people.

'This judgment will help to ensure that disabled people are offered the same level of service that non-disabled people would expect to receive. The Court’s decision also shows that taking action to make their services accessible can help prevent businesses being involved in costly legal cases and avoid negative publicity in the future.'

Ends

For more press information contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission media office on 020 3117 0255, out of hours 07767 272 818.

For general enquiries please contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s national helpline: England 0845 604 6610 / Scotland 0845 604 5510 / Wales 0845 604 8810

Notes to Editors

David Allen (a child by Ceri Allen, his Litigation Friend) v The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
[2009] EWCA Civ 1213 (Citation)

David Allen,19, has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and is a permanent wheelchair user. He opened an account with the Royal Bank of Scotland at their Sheffield city centre branch. Access to this branch was at the top of four steps which Mr Allen was unable to negotiate.

Mr Allen wished to discuss his account with a member of the bank’s staff. As he was unable to get to the bank, he was forced to discuss details of his account with staff on the street, breaching his confidentiality and causing him significant embarrassment.

Mr Allen brought proceedings for disability discrimination in the Sheffield County Court. Under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 it is unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably because of a disability. They must also make any ‘reasonable adjustments’ that are necessary to remove any barriers which make it difficult for disabled people to access their services.

The County Court found that Mr Allen had suffered discrimination and ordered the Bank to pay Mr Allen £6,500 and issued an injunction forcing the bank to install a lift to ensure it was accessible to those using wheelchairs.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission

The Commission is a statutory body established under the Equality Act 2006, which took over the responsibilities of Commission for Racial Equality, Disability Rights Commission and Equal Opportunities Commission. It is the independent advocate for equality and human rights in Britain. It aims to reduce inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations between people, and promote and protect human rights. The Commission enforces equality legislation on age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender status, and encourages compliance with the Human Rights Act. It also gives advice and guidance to businesses, the voluntary and public sectors, and to individuals.

[guido]

No Way!!! This is riveting, as it used to be my bank when I worked in Sheffield, and waiting in the street used to really me off - but I was always told that they were stuck with a planning case as another department within the council (and I use to come up against those idiots and know how truly rubbish some of them were) wouldn't allow the alterations on a listed building <<ah, the mysteries of rumour control>>

Wish I'd known. £6,500 is good load of dough... now my current back has steps to the bank and to the cash machine, and I can't get in either......

[Lucydog]

Ha ha, listed buildings drive me mad as an ex planning officer. I live in a listed building, er places like Blenheim Palace are listed and still have disabled access. Its only in very rare circumstances can disabled access not be possible but this old chesnut comes up again and again and again. Shame on all banks and businesses who use it as an excuse.

[guido]

Lucydog, on Dec 1 2009, 02:40 PM, said:

Ha ha, listed buildings drive me mad as an ex planning officer. I live in a listed building, er places like Blenheim Palace are listed and still have disabled access. Its only in very rare circumstances can disabled access not be possible but this old chesnut comes up again and again and again. Shame on all banks and businesses who use it as an excuse.

Agreed. So what should I do about my bank? I've always been quite relaxed about it because I liked the bank staff, but when I stop to think about it, the bank is enormous, has plenty of money to put in facilities even though it's a small branch. They're pretty quick to charge me for any small error on my part!

[greybeard]

Ask them to credit your account with £6500.00 or you will file a complaint?

Sounds like a win win situation to me.

This post has been edited by greybeard: 01 December 2009 - 03:13 PM

[guido]

greybeard, on Dec 1 2009, 03:12 PM, said:

Ask them to credit your account with £6500.00 or you will file a complaint?

Sounds like a win win situation to me.

Ha ha! Always seems a bit cheeky to me, but I might have a chat with them, given that the village has quite a number of seniors who'd also be able to use any facilities put in place.

[greybeard]

I can just picture all those wrinklies queuing for their £6500. Better make sure you're at the front. Do I get a %age from all of you for suggesting this fool-proof money making scheme?

[guido]

greybeard, on Dec 1 2009, 05:00 PM, said:

I can just picture all those wrinklies queuing for their £6500. Better make sure you're at the front. Do I get a %age from all of you for suggesting this fool-proof money making scheme?

But of course, GB. Sounds like a commission based scheme to me: everyone send in address details of their inaccessible banks, and I'll go round opening accounts and starting litigation proceedings... Though if the lawyers do their homework, this thread might count against me...

[Tetracyclone]

Guido,

Do print out the judgement for them, copied and pasted from the thread. Then you get to smile pleasantly as you hand irt to them, saying, "It would be a shame if this happened to you..."


You MUST describe for us the reaction.

[guido]

Pwuff, on Dec 1 2009, 05:18 PM, said:

Guido,

Do print out the judgement for them, copied and pasted from the thread. Then you get to smile pleasantly as you hand irt to them, saying, "It would be a shame if this happened to you..."


You MUST describe for us the reaction.

Well it's a little while away as I'm still off my ass while my little blister/sore finishes healing up.

[Tetracyclone]

Oh Guido, so sorry so sorry, i had not caught the fact that you are abed, or I filed it away thinking "that guy will be up tomorrow."

Visualize thickening layers of skin...

P

[pistol_pete]

This is both weird and timely, or weirdly timely....nevermind.
My wife went into our local bank branch just yesterday and raised this very same issue. The front door is too narrow and the step up is a good 4-6 inches.
Their reply was exactly the same, " Too expensive to fix", they admitted that they do have other wheelchair bound customers and they just serve them outside in the street.
Major security issues there I think.
I am currently involved in a very large settlement case with my employer (work injury). I wonder how their attitude would change if I couldn't get into their branch with my six figure cheque.
I haven't really needed to get into the bank as yet, so it hasn't been a problem yet.YET.
But when I do need to get in, picking up cards, mortgage stuff, financial advice etc it will be a problem, and I don't want to have to conduct my business on a busy street.
Pwuff, I think I will follow the advice you gave Guido.

This post has been edited by pistol_pete: 02 December 2009 - 01:40 AM

[guido]

Well having joked about taking on the bank earlier in this thread, as actually I like to work on a system of Good Will and Common Sense, my bank really me off before Christmas. Was meant to be keeping off ass (turned out to be an abscess not a sore, which was good news) but they said I HAD to come in to make a CHAPS payment (sameday) that I needed to pay someone. In the middle of all the snow and hassle. But when I got to bank, they wouldn't come out to help (steps up and no access, so this is what we usually do), and then wouldn't answer the phone for over half an hour as they knew it was me ringing and didn't want to discuss it.

Big corporations being gits really annoys me.

One letter later, I'm £250 up, they've acknowledged that they need to sort out better access, and tried to placate me with a sensible (for a corporate) reply letter.

However, they haven't addressed all the issues as they're effectively trying to claim a security system that overrides the law. That's my next letter.

And really, is this good business for them?

What don't these people get??? Most of us, don't want hassle, just a bit of good will from both sides usually gets every job done. But when they start with the fob-offs, I think that no-one should let them go. Small businesses, okay, many are struggling anyway, but the banks.... after what they've just done, no Siree.

[greybeard]

Good onya Guido. Service from most large organisations is usually deplorable.

When I was a retail manager for a national company, I was forever reminding my staff that they only had to improve their level of service a little bit to leave the competitors standing. They all talk the talk, but not many actually walk the walk.

I just cancelled a service agreement with my intruder alarm company because a manager failed three times to contact me when he said he would. I refuse to tolerate service like this from people who's salaries I help pay.

Go get em Tiger.

[slyd]

Cool thread!
Maybe all members should go out and identify those places that you have to go to, (who don't provide the "basic facilities" for disabled customers,) and then rev their asses with a few letters . . . ???

Can I quote your post "Boss" ?