I read with disappointment your article "Pub chain admits wheelchair error" (Friday 6th June).

As someone who acts as a carer for a wheelchair-user, I can verify that the thoughtless (and illegal) discrimination suffered by Mr Keogh at the hands of staff at the Old White Swan in Goodramgate is commonplace.

Any genuine blue-badge user will tell tales of able-bodied motorists, who consider that parking in disabled spaces is acceptable, and that any attempt to explain the error of their ways is met with a volley of abuse, or that it doesn't matter, because they will "only be a couple of minutes."

In fact it does matter, very much, to a person who needs to get out of a car into a wheelchair, because the extra space in a disabled bay allows this.

At the Old White Swan, the spokesperson for owners Mitchells and Butlers claims that: "We fully support the Disability Discrimination Act." Not enough to have trained their staff to comply with it. In fact the spokesperson goes on to prove their ignorance of the Act by stating "people with special requirements should phone ahead so we can offer any help they need".

The law states that disabled people should be offered a service on the same terms as someone able-bodied.

If I go on a trip, I don't expect to have to make an advance booking just to have a drink, and nor should Mr Keogh, or anyone else with a disability.

If the company in question asked someone from an ethnic minority to call in advance to ensure their staff didn't discriminate against them, there would rightly be an uproar. Why are disabled people treated differently?

Ian Savage,

Huntsmans Walk, York

Updated: 11:42 Monday, June 09, 2003