Longleat potential disability discrimination?

[Willyoujustbequiet]

I was hoping someone may be able to advise.

My friend's son is turning 18 shortly. He would dearly love to do the VIP Safari experience at Longleat. He gets enhanced PIP and has an access card.

Longleat have advised that they don't give carer/companion concessions on any of the experiences. This is despite advertising they accept them for ordinary day tickets on their website. They've said that my friend has to pay twice - so £750 instead of the £375 it would cost a person without disabilities. This is the only way people can help feed the animals. His mum wouldn't want to take part in the actual activities but she would need to attend to support him ( toileting help etc).

Surely this is discrimination? I was wondering if anyone had any experience of it?. Other parks don't charge extra but he has his heart set on Longleat.

Bumping for you. I didn't think that offering free carer/companion concessions was a legal requirement and is done for corporate kudos/ to be inclusive depending on where you are on the cynic scale.

Thank you

I was quite shocked tbh but perhaps I'm being naive. I've had a look online and they are getting pretty negative reviews re disabilities. I was just wondering if anyone had personal experience.

I would advise your friend to email them, explain the situation and advise what she has been told (presumably by someone who didn't really appreciate the disability discrimination point) and ask them to clarify by email how this is compliant with the EA 2010 in terms of enabling accessibility for paying customers whose disability requires assistance from a carer.

It's often the case with smaller places that the first person I speak to will simply say carers have to have their own paid ticket, but usually when you spell it out to them, they realise that can't actually be right as it can't be the case that they are effectively charging disabled people double the price just because they have a disability. I'm surprised that somewhere like Longleat hasn't twigged though.

As you say, it would be different if the carer also wanted to participate, but when they are only there by virtue of their role as a carer, then they obviously shouldn't have to pay the zoo to be able to provide necessary disability assistance to the person they care for.

I get that Longleat will lose money on an expensive activity every time they have to accommodate a disabled person's carer too, since capacity is limited, but that financial loss due to accommodating people with disabilities needs to be covered by Longleat, not by the disabled visitors themselves. It would be like charging wheelchair users a toll to use a disabled ramp to cover the costs of installation.

Could his mum just buy an ordinary day ticket, if the things he needs assistance with (you mentioned toileting) are not related to the experience? Or does he need her help to actually carry out the experience?

Thanks for the reply.

She has - they've put it in writing that she would need to buy two tickets! She replied to ask how this fits re equalities discrimination and they haven't responded.

I said I would ask on here first to gauge opinion before she chases them. Your reply is reassuring.

It says on their website, of the Bronze VIP Safari:

If you have any specific medical needs, an allergy or require a 1:1 carer, please contact us prior to booking. Be advised that most of our experiences involve a certain level of physical activity.

If they won't accommodate carers at no extra cost, it is extremely sneaky of them not to make this clear on their website!

It's a whole day experience and they are saying she can't accompany them in the jeep without a full vip ticket so unfortunately a separate day ticket wouldn't work.

I can't understand it really as surely it would go against some sort of health and safety policy/safeguarding.

I have dc with additional needs so I'm finding their attitude very short sighted.

Thank you!

I hadn't seen that so will pass that on. That certainly is sneaky!

Just to add, I've not looked into Longleat specifically on this, but as a carer of disabled animal lovers. I do recall having looked into feeding/animal care type experiences before, and one of the things I remember seeing with disability access for these is that they can obviously refuse to let someone with disabilities participate if their risk assessment suggests it would be unsafe (e.g. they're not going to let someone with unpredictable behaviour or who has difficulty following instructions put their hand near a lion's mouth, etc).

BUT if they try to argue that if someone needs a carer, it means it is automatically unsafe, I would argue that is also discriminatory as they can't possibly be basing their risk assessment on the individual person's disabilities if they assume that no-one with a carer can follow instructions or be safe around those situations.

I would argue that they need to do a risk assessment taking into account the actual facts of the person's disability in order for refusal on the grounds of safety not to be discriminatory, and I would request a copy of the risk assessment if it's being used to deny access.

There's a reason why they say carers have to pay - because they don't want to lose money and they know it would be discriminatory so say "sorry, no disabled people allowed" - they know most people will either (1) save up and pay double or (2) see the cost as too prohibitive and not bother, and in either case, they ensure that each place on the activity is funded by someone paying the full price.

Here's a link - in the 'need to know' section at the bottom!

https://www.longleat.co.uk/ticket/bronze-vip-safari-tour

This makes perfect sense. I actually hadn't thought of it that way.

He absolutely wouldn't be unsafe in that sense but definitely needs support (mainstream but full time 1:1). Their access card supposedly endorsed by Longleat allows for a carer too.

It's disheartening in this day and age that somewhere as well known as Longleat would take this attitude.

Much appreciated!

I feel like going into battle now lol

Would Drayton Manor be a feasible alternative for you?

A friend has been there with her family with multiple different accessibility needs and couldn't speak highly enough about the support and adjustments made for them.

Cheering you on!

It is ridiculous - put simply, anyone buying this for their non-disabled relative is paying half the cost, because they could simply buy a day ticket and wave them off on the safari - which is completely unfair.

I will suggest that thank you. Its always good to hear first hand experience!

Thanks so much!

Yes it was the unfairness that rankled. I'd never come across it to this degree.

I really appreciate all the replies. I will keep you updated if there are any developments.

Has she considered tweeting that Emma lady and asking "how is this not disability discrimination?" or going to the BBC or the papers and getting them to contact Longleat?

I'm not a tweety person but I'm sure that would speed up their response if your friend is that way inclined!

375 quid? Bloody hell what do you get for that?

Apparently it's their Gold safari. All day doing different areas of the park. Booked up for months!

Looks like the 'Gold' Safari packages up the normal safari with a selection of the animal VIP experiences - given the animal experiences are £100 a pop, the Gold Safari does represent value for money within its own universe, if you see what I mean. But having to pay for a carer as well is going to put it completely out of reach for many disabled people.

The equality advisory service offer free advice on discrimination

I’ve just tweeted them to ask the question. I’ll see what they reply!

West Midlands Safari Park specifically say that companions/carers can go free on the experiences etc so long as they don't join in if you find you are getting nowhere with longleat?

I don't think there is anything legally binding to allow free carers tickets. We go to theatre a lot and ATG are (usually) brilliant, but any theatre/outing with a charitable designation (eg the stables at Wavendon) give a carers discount but not a free ticket. Thats fine by me as it is a charity and have no government support (I don't think so) so we limit our visits to such establishments.
If you want reccomendations to which experience goes above and beyond (although I appreciate totally not animal related) ABBA voyage is superb.

I suspect partly the reason is they only have a set number of spaces and don't want to give one away for free. We looked into another safari park and to be honest once we checked the small print it wasn't suitable for someone with disabilities severe enough to require a carer (my dd could manage but she doesn't need 1:1 any more, whereas dsd does)