Re: Hollister Trafford centre

[Marmiteandjamislush]

Visiting some family this weekend and out shopping with my sister and her kids, one of whom has severe cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user and non verbal. Anyway, his brother wanted to go to Hollister, while my husband, dad and BiL were in Build a bear with the tiddlers. So we went in and both boys had a look round and did some shopping. However, on the way out, the power assist door, which appeared to be set very fast, closed on my nephew and hit him very hard on the arm, and would have caught his head had it not been for the wings on his head rest. We knew it was hard, because we heard the connect and he cried out. So, I went back into the store to tell them what had happened and the response I got was 'Well, it's never happened before with buggies or anything.' No apology. Nothing.

I am annoyed for 2 reasons:

1. Sorry costs nothing and I think they should have come out and tested the door and apologised to my nephew directly. He can understand everything around him.

1. My nephew is a teenager and is in a wheelchair, not a buggy. I just think they should not compare him to a baby.

Would I be unreasonable to write to head office and possibly Intu Trafford? And make both of these points.

YANBU to mention that sorry costs nothing, although they might feel that sorry is an admission of fault.

Having said that, "Sorry this has happened to you", would have been a polite thing to say.

YABU on your second point because they didn't compare him to a baby. They pointed out it hasn't happened with buggies, which are the only other things on wheels they're likely to have coming through the door.

YANBU for point 1, YABU for point 2. They were comparing the wheelchair to a buggy, not your nephew to a baby.

Hope your nephew is all right.

They're taught to never say sorry as it admits liability. Not that you were accusing them of anything but it is the no.1 thing they 're taught not to say.
Definitely write to the centre. They need to look at the door setting.
Hope your nephew was ok

They should have apologised.

And, although I don't think they were at fault in this instance, now that they know it can happen, they should do some safety testing. Maybe the differing height of the person in the item with wheels affects the sensor or something which would explain why buggies haven't been a problem.

Thanks everyone. He's fine, he gave the door a really filthy look and I swear I saw a 'what the jeff' look on his face too. Thanks for the perspective re point 2. I can be a bit sensitive about stuff like that as I work in disability rights and because of the extent of his disabilities, people who don't know him can approach him like a baby sometimes. Will write before I take the kids back home with Mum and Dad on Weds. DH has to go back tonight for work

hope hes ok. I accompanied a school trip with a small group of teens with cp to the trafford centre on a placement at an sen school...

it was near impossible to navigate most shops, food hall, corridors... people STARED at the kids (kids were totally aware - a couple of them were playing the 'how many stares' game!! )

never had anybody in my family or close with any kind of physical disability and it made me and because everythig was such a challenge!

I totally understand why you would want them to apologise or acknowledge his distress in some form. But just to add another perspective, when I worked in a touring outfit (alot of time in the car), we were taught never to apologise to someone if we got into a car accident with them. We represented the company and an apology (even a simple "sorry") could be taken as an admission of guilt or responsibility in that sort of situation.

FWIW I was massively relieved it never came up as I don't know how I would have stopped myself from saying sorry, even if it was nothing to do with me. So it's possible that the staff had been trained similarly and just didn't know how else to acknowledge it. Not saying it's right, but it's possible.

I noticed there was a lot of staring too, noodle. The only thing I can think is because there are a lot of tourists from places where it is not usual to see people with extensive disabilities out in public? I say this, because it was the same when they visited us and I took the older boys to Bicester Village with my husband. Also, YY to difficult to navigate shops.