We met-up with the Mayor of Margate and visited the owner of the Paw Prince Pet Shop to find out why she will not allow wheelchair access around her shop. Prior to this the Mayor had gone to the shop to advise the owner that we would be calling in at 3pm. The Mayor said that the owner was in a better mood this time and so she was hopeful that we could resolve our issues. However, when we arrived at the pet shop there was a man behind the counter who became very angry and began shouting and using aggressive language during our discussions and we were unable to reason with him or the owner. The owner just kept repeating that wheelchair users should "park" in the corner of the shop and that she had other disabled and pushchair customers that do this, and were served from there. (I can't believe that Mothers would leave babys in pushchairs in the front corner of the shop or that wheelchair users do this either, I have been shopping in there for years and have never seen anyone do this!)
The shop layout had been changed a little but wheelchairs still couldn't get to the counter as there there were three, 12"x10" plastic bags of parrot seeds laid end to end along the floor in front of the access to the counter and when we suggested that if the bags were moved to the empty shelf above, there would be access for wheelchair users, the man shouted that if he moved the parrot food, his parrot customers wouldn't know where to find it, I said that the parrot seed should be "parked in the corner", then there would be room for wheelchairs to access the counter, but this suggestion made him even more irate.
I believe the bags of parrot seeds were laid on the floor as a deliberate obstruction to wheelchair users, so the shopkeeper can continue to say "there is no room in her shop for wheelchairs"!
I said they were breaking the law by not allowing wheelchair access, the man then accused me of moving "fixtures and fittings", I replied that I could not have done this without tools, he shouted me down. The Mayor tried to calm him and told him that we had to find a compromise, he became enraged.
The Mayor told him to stop shouting in front of my daughter as it was not a good thing because she'd had a Stroke, but he continued shouting so much that she went and sat outside the shop in her wheelchair.because he'd embarrassed her so much. The Mayor and myself also had to leave the shop too because of his hostility.
I found it was a frightening experience and we were both glad that the Mayor was with us, otherwise who knows what might have happened !
