2.Main Content
Jean's story
Jean is a wheelchair user who thinks her bank is discriminating against her because she can’t get up the step into the local branch. She decides to use the Disability Conciliation Service to try to sort out the problem and get some compensation.
My problem
I use a wheelchair and I just couldn’t get into my local bank. They have a steep step at the main entrance, and it was impossible to get my chair up. When I phoned about this, the manager said I should ring the bell, and a member of staff would come out to the pavement to sort out whatever I wanted. Well, I hated this. Everyone could see what I was doing, it was noisy and smelly with all the traffic, and you can imagine what it was like when it was raining. I wrote to the manager several times saying I wasn’t happy, but when they bothered to reply they just said it was a small branch, and there was nothing else they could suggest. I felt this wasn’t fair – but I didn’t know what to do.
My options
I phoned the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to get some advice.
You can phone the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) helpline on 0845 604 6610 in England or 0845 604 8810 in Wales. They have advisers who will explain the law, and tell you what your options are. For more information have a look at Is that discrimination? on the Advicenow website.
The person on the helpline told me that they thought the bank was breaking the law, which meant that I could take them to court if I wanted to. They also told me about an alternative to court - the Disability Conciliation Service (DCS). Although they call it ‘conciliation’, it’s pretty much the same as mediation, though it starts with both sides being clear that I have legal rights. If the bank agreed to it, the DCS would set up a meeting between me and the bank manager so we could talk it through, and see if we could agree a solution to the problem. There would be an independent conciliator to referee the discussion, but the conciliator wouldn’t tell us what to do.
What happened
I decided to have a go at the conciliation, since it wasn’t going to cost me anything. The EHRC contacted the bank, and offered the manager a chance to come to a conciliation meeting to discuss the situation, and to try to sort something out.
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into existence in 1995. Part three says that organisations have to make sure that the services they provide are as accessible to disabled people as they are to non-disabled people. Since 2004 this includes their premises. This means that banks and other businesses that don’t do this are breaking the law, and you can take them to court.
The bank agreed to the conciliation idea. A couple of weeks later I had a call from the DCS co-ordinator. She told me a bit more about how conciliation works, and asked me if I’d thought about what I actually wanted to get out of it. I said I wanted them to understand what it felt like to have to do your banking on the pavement in the rain, while other people can just go into the bank. I felt they hadn’t really taken my suggestions for a ramp seriously, and on a couple of occasions they didn’t even reply to my letters. I wanted them to say sorry, and mean it, and pay some compensation to show they were taking it seriously. I said I’d like to ask for £750. I thought they ought to train their staff better too.
The co-ordinator wrote down what I’d said, and told me she would send a copy to the bank representative as well. I thought it would be a good idea to have a lawyer at the meeting, but the co-ordinator said that this wasn’t allowed, though I could get some legal advice before the meeting if I wanted to.
Although you can’t take a legal adviser along to the conciliation meeting, it could be useful to get some advice before you go. You could check exactly what your rights are, and how much it would be reasonable to expect in compensation.
Having said this, it isn’t easy to find experienced advisers in this area. You could:
- see a solicitor for advice; but unless you’re eligible for legal aid you’d have to pay for it, and not many solicitors are discrimination experts.
- try a local Law Centre, if you have one; some of them have lawyers who specialise in discrimination cases, and their advice is free.
- call the Disability Law Service national adviceline on 020 7791 9800; they will make an appointment to talk it through with you on the phone.
- visit your local CAB or advice centre; they may be able to tell you where to go to get local specialist advice.
For more information, have a look at the leaflet Do I need a lawyer?.
When you get to the meeting, you’ll find that the conciliator can give you information about the law, but won’t give you advice. Although you can’t take a lawyer along, you can take a friend, a relative or an informal adviser.
I asked my sister-in-law to come along with me, as she’s good at listening, and I always value her opinion. The meeting was held at my local community centre, which is easy for me to get to, and doesn’t have steps at the entrance. It lasted for three hours, and I was quite tired by the end of it, but I thought it all went well – at last I got a chance to explain face to face how upset I’d been about the whole thing. And to be fair, the bank manager was quite nice about the problem. She came with a number of ideas for helping me. She asked whether I could deal with my banking over the internet, but I don’t have a computer, so that was no good. She offered to send a member of staff round to my house, so long as I could book it a few days in advance, but I don’t always know when I’ll need to get to the bank, and I do like going into the town so I can see other people. It can get lonely at home on your own all the time.
The outcome
The manager said she was sorry about how I’d been treated, and I got the impression that now she had met me, she did understand what I’d been saying. She agreed that they’d buy a portable ramp straight away. My sister-in-law said that some of the local shops had put in a platform lift, and the manager said she’d find out about that, as it sounded a good idea. She also said that her staff do have regular disability awareness training, but I said that didn’t stop them being insensitive to me. She asked me whether I’d like to come along to their next staff meeting and talk about my experience to them all. I said I’d think about it. She offered me £350 compensation.
The conciliator said I had to decide then and there whether I accepted this deal as a full and final settlement.
A full and final settlement means that both sides accept the proposals and agree not to take it further. In this case, the bank agreed to pay £350 compensation and get a ramp, and Jean agreed not to take it to court afterwards.
If you’re not prepared to agree to this on the day, you could contact the bank again later, but it would be up to them whether they were still prepared to do what they offered through conciliation.
If you do agree, and then the bank doesn’t pay up, or doesn’t get the ramp,
you could take them to court to get it enforced. But it’s in their interest to do what they promised, because they value your custom, and because they don’t want any bad publicity. The conciliators say that they’ve never had a business that hasn’t kept its side of the agreement.
The conciliator wrote down everything we agreed, and we both signed it. It seemed like a reasonable deal, and I really wanted it sorted. The bank agreed to deposit the compensation money in my bank account within two weeks, and to let me know as soon as the ramp was available.
I didn’t get as much compensation as I’d hoped, and I would have liked something in the local paper about it – I don’t see why they should get away with breaking the law. On the other hand it didn’t cost me anything, and it was all sorted in a few weeks. And I really valued getting the chance to eyeball the manager and tell her what I felt. I think it was worth it.
Key websites
Disability Conciliation Service
Equalities and Human Rights Commission
End of Section Back to top