Marks & Spencer

Squirrelpot

29 Jan 2016

Excellent apart from big flaws with the accessible toilet

4

4

Date of visit: January 2016

I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.

I use or have experience of: disabled toilet

Overall Rating

Good

A very happy shopping experience for a wheelchair user, and a good accessible toilet which has a few things badly wrong with it.

Disabled Access In and Around

Good

Excellent access throughout the shop, including automatic doors at the step-free entrance. Be sure to use the correct lift if you want to go to the 2nd floor: one of the lifts doesn't serve the 2nd floor. But the one that does serve the 2nd floor is huge - big enough to hold a cocktail party in it.

Parking & Transport

Poor

The nearest step-free station is Earls Court, which is a long way off. Many buses go up and down Kensington High Street. I wouldn't dream of trying to park here.

Accessible Toilets

Poor

There is an accessible toilet but it was annoyingly disappointing. Rubbish bins were cluttering up the wheelchair transfer area, which is NOT free space for bins! Worse still, the red emergency cord had been tied up, drastically shortened, and tucked out of the way (see my pictures). This cord should always hang freely all the way to the floor. Very annoying - and putting people's safety at risk.

Staff

Good

I was looking for something that had recently gone out of stock, and the two members of staff helping me bent over backwards to be helpful and find alternatives. Outstanding. One star lost for the failure to manage the layout of the accessible toilet correctly.

Additional Information

If the red emergency cord in the accessible toilet is tied up out of reach, then one day someone is going to fall over and get injured and be unable to summon help. The results could be dangerous, or even fatal. M&S are exposing themselves to potential legal difficulties by failing to provide a correctly-configured red emergency cord hanging freely all the way to the floor.