There's a lot to rage about this appalling story, but that, frankly, takes the biscuit. Why did they do nothing?
Angharad claims she was told 'you don't look blind' and hotel security staff were called to eject them from the room.
Another triumph for the useless Met Police...
Angharad, from Port Talbot, South Wales, is taking legal action against Premier Inns.
She's being backed by the Guide Dogs Association, and I hope she wins. I hope she puts in an official complaint againt the police too.
A Premier spokesperson said: 'At Premier Inn we take the needs and equal treatment of all our guests extremely seriously and all team members receive disability awareness training to make sure our guests all get the same warm welcome and enjoy a great stay.'
Well, clearly, at your Enfield branch, it didn't take.
'An urgent investigation is already underway with that site to find out exactly what's happened and we've reached out to the Twitter user to fully understand the circumstances of what has taken place and apologise for the upset caused.
'Whilst we cannot comment on the outcome of specific investigations, we take a zero tolerance policy towards discrimination.'
There should be some vacancies for hotel staff coming up in the Enfield area very soon.
16 comments:
I bet that they were Muslims.
Let me guess - the staff at Enfield Premier Inn are suitably 'diverse' and 'Ropey'?
I wonder what the Police were expected to do? The incident happened on private property, there were no allegations of assault, theft, or any other crime. I doubt that the Police manual covers ignorant, or untrained hotel staff refusing to change their minds about whether a dog is, or isn't an official guide dog. Yes, the Premier Inn staff involved behaved atrociously but, in this case, to accuse the Police officers of being useless, is rather harsh.
Penseivat
Please explain what the police did wrong?
The couple called the police over what was a civil dispute (i.e. no crime happened).
The police have no power to overrule the hotel staffs decision to eject the customers-as is their right.
Sympathy with the couple but the police are powerless in this instance.
Jaded
The fuzz will be knocking on her door soon, giving her earache for sending a negative tweet and assuring her that it's against the law . . .
....'and I hope she wins. I hope she puts in an official complaint againt (sic) the police too.'
Let your hope for a win, inspire lesser creatures.
An abstract sense of light shining out of the police complaints system to illuminate the dark pit, was a wonderful conceptualisation, JuliaM.
Fuckwitters everywhere, alas for this poor girl and her partner.
What sort of deduction can such a huge organisation like Whitbread make from farting around on Twitter, instead of actually getting down there and sorting ouf the manager and staff!
Premier are a pretty cheap budget operation, but their responsibility for dealing with this issue was appalling, and no doubt will get much more bad publicity.
Goferit Angharad, they can afford it!
"Please explain what the police did wrong?
The couple called the police over what was a civil dispute (i.e. no crime happened).
The police have no power to overrule the hotel staffs decision to eject the customers-as is their right.
Sympathy with the couple but the police are powerless in this instance."
So would Plod have walked away if some hotel was saying 'No Gays' or 'No Muslims'? I think we all know the answer to that.......
Perhaps a clue here ...
"Disability campaigner Angharad said ..."
not to mention "Hotel workers knocked [on] her door" ... "hotel staff burst into her room last Saturday".
A silly comparison. You aren't allowed to discriminate against gays or muslims. Dogs you can. It's a health issue .
Try again.
Jaded
It surprises me that this wasn't treated as a hate crime. Leads me to think that the first couple of comments here are correct.
"A silly comparison. You aren't allowed to discriminate against gays or muslims. Dogs you can. It's a health issue ."
You aren't allowed to discriminate on the grounds of disability either. Race, sexual orientation and disability are all covered by the Equality Act 2010 (plus many other categories) but all are non-criminal offences, ie you have to bring a civil case to get recompense. Hence the famous case brought by the gay man against the bakery who refused to bake him a 'gay cake'. He didn't call the police to get the baker arrested, he had to get a lawyer to bring a civil case (which eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court and was won by the bakery).
So I repeat - would you turn up to a dispute at a hotel turning away a gay couple (for being gay) and tell the aggrieved party that 'Its a civil matter, nothing we can do'?
Yes.
Jaded
"Yes.
Jaded"
Well your career would come to a rather abrupt conclusion right there one suspects, in the current 'Rainbow' police force. You are trying to tell us that the police 'service' that spends all its time painting its vehicle rainbow colours, and prancing around with trannies and blokes with their arses hanging out of their trousers (and thats just the Chief Constable, arf arf) are going to walk away while one of their pet social groups is being mistreated in some way? Pull the other one, we all know what you'd be doing, you'd be arresting the hotel staff for a 'hate crime' and you know it too.
"I bet that they were Muslims."
Once, I'd have not taken that bet. However, it seems they aren't the only culprits.
"I wonder what the Police were expected to do?"
Instruct the hotel staff in the law? Assuming they understood it themselves, of course. It's no good having a plethora of staff Tweeting about discrimination being bad if it can happen right under their noses...
"The police have no power to overrule the hotel staffs decision to eject the customers-as is their right."
So, telling them that if they ejected a disable patron it would be treated as a hate crime wasn't on the cards? Pull the other one!
"What sort of deduction can such a huge organisation like Whitbread make from farting around on Twitter, instead of actually getting down there and sorting ouf the manager and staff!"
Damage limitation, that's all, And anyone not 5 years old can see through it.
"A silly comparison. You aren't allowed to discriminate against gays or muslims. Dogs you can."
/facepalm
See? You claim to be a police officer, and yet even YOU get the law wrong!
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