Disabled complaints triple

FAILURE by pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and retailers to treat disabled people fairly has led to a near tripling of complaints to the Equality Tribunal.

Figures from the tribunal’s end-of-year report for 2002 show a 178% increase in the number of claims by disabled persons discriminated against while trying to access certain goods and services.

The claims, made under the Equal Status Act 2000, jumped from 18 in 2001 to 50 last year.