'Disabled people are being treated as second class citizens in Scarborough' claims mum

Sharon Davis says she visited Scarborough in August with a group of 19 children with additional needs, including her son Josh, who has asymmetric quadrapelgic cerebral palsy and epilepsy and is a full-time wheelchair user.

She said that they were forced to wait “almost 40 minutes” to gain access to a toilet on the beachfront.

She said: “Just after lunch we went to access the toilet on the beachfront.

"The disabled toilet was out of order and the changing places toilet was locked with no signage on the door on how to gain access.

“We waited around 40 minutes and two toilet attendants arrived.

"I politely asked how to gain access to the changing places toilet, and apparently, the sign fell off the door.

“After a few minutes the lady begrudgingly opened the door but wouldn’t give us the code, so we had to ring Scarborough Council for the code for later that day.”

She added: “It is also disappointing that disabled people are treated as second-class citizens with no accessible toilets on the beachfront, accessibility is clearly not a priority.”

Following a refurbishment this summer, the council reopened its accessible changing places bathroom facilities in the South Bay.

Harry Briggs, Head of Operations, Transport and Countryside Services said: “We are very sorry to hear of the difficulties this group of visitors experienced when visiting the new toilets in South Bay during the summer. “The official opening of the Changing Places space was regrettably delayed. As with any refurbishment that was as extensive as the one undertaken, there were some teething issues when the site was complete. We worked extensively with suppliers and Muscular Dystrophy UK to get the site operational as quickly as possible.“There was a fault with some of the installed equipment and then a delay at the Changing Places Consortium in publishing access arrangements. Once both were resolved we were able to officially open the facility.”

Meanwhile, Lorna Fillingham, who was holidaying in Scarborough and North Yorkshire with her 12-year-old disabled daughter Emily-May this summer, said that accessibility was an issue every day.

Many of the sites they visited were run by a variety of town councils and organisations, and she called on “the businesses and local authorities in North Yorkshire to see what they can do” to improve accessibility.

She said: “We’re also a family who love the outdoors, so knowing where accessible footpaths are too, would all help make North Yorkshire a place where we could continue to visit as well as making it a better place for the disabled people who live here.”

The manager of the Scarborough DAG, Tim Vasey, said that when it comes to making sites more accessible, it makes financial sense for businesses and organisations to make initial investments.

He said: “You are making yourself more marketable People just think ‘oh God, we’re not spending £500 when they’re going to be of very little use’.