Compensation for NatWest customer due to lack of disabled access.

October 17th 2005

A disabled customer with NatWest has received £5,000 compensation after complaining for four years that he was unable to get inside his local bank.

Kevin Caulfield, who uses an electric wheelchair, has been undertaking transactions on the pavement outside his bank in West London because a large step at the bank's entrance has stopped him from getting inside and prevented disabled access to the building.

On one occasion, Mr Caulfield was asked to wait in his wheelchair on the pavement outside the bank while staff dealt with customers inside the building who'd arrived before him.

Mr Caulfield used the Disability Rights Commission's (DRC's) conciliation service to negotiate an agreement with NatWest to pay him £5,000 compensation for the poor service he received and breach of his rights.

In January 2005, NatWest made a portable ramp which provided disabled access available to Kevin and other disabled customers. The bank had applied to the local council for permission to build a permanent ramp, but this was turned down.

The settlement was agreed after changes to the Disability Discrimination Act which came into force in October 2004. Although Kevin does some of his banking with Nat West over the phone and on the Internet, like many other people he occasionally needs to go into the bank to pay in a cheque.

Kevin Caulfield said: “Most people take for granted that at least the physical aspect of using their bank will be hassle free. No one expects to do their transactions on the street – an experience I found utterly unacceptable, humiliating and unsettling. Because of one step I was effectively barred from the premises.

“But I'm really pleased it's all been resolved and I can now get into the bank.

“This agreement means that more disabled people can use the bank's services and be treated as valued customers and equal citizens.”

DRC Chairman Bert Massie said:

“Britain's major banks should be setting an example to other high street businesses and ensuring disabled people can use their services - some banks are, which is encouraging.

“The new legislation means that every high street business does everything reasonable to ensure their services are open and usable by all and Nat West should be no exception.

“It's gratifying that this has been resolved outside the courtroom without the stress and cost of legal action. It shows how conciliation can produce positive results, not just to those directly involved but to the wider community.”

A spokesperson for Nat West said: “NatWest takes its responsibilities to our customers with disabilities seriously and we are committed to making our premises as accessible as possible. To demonstrate this commitment, we have invested more than £150m in a major refurbishment programme which will improve access across our 1630 branches.

“We regret the issues that Mr Caulfield has faced when trying to visit the bank. We have apologised to Mr Caulfield and the compensation offered reflects the highly unusual situation over the last 4 years, where we as a Bank and a branch have consistently failed to answer Mr Caulfield's correspondence.”

The DRC's independent Disability Conciliation Service was set up in 2001 and negotiates settlements for disabled people experiencing problems using services and in the education system. Nearly 80% of the Disability Conciliation Service's cases are successful in finding an agreement between the disabled person and the service provider.

Ends

Notes

During the past year (2004-2005) the DRC has received 84 complaints from disabled people about difficulties using financial services.

New legislation under the Part 3 of the DDA, introduced in October 2004, requires banks and other high street businesses to ensure their services are user friendly to disabled people.

Source: DRC Website

 

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