Manchester nightclub accused of disability discrimination after removing teen in wheelchair

Maddie Haining told staff at a Manchester nightclub they were violating the Equality Act by kicking her out. Photo / Maddie Haining

An 18-year-old in a wheelchair was kicked out of a British nightclub with staff claiming she was a “fire risk”.

Maddie Haining was out for drinks with friends and decided to visit Club Tropicana in Manchester early Saturday morning.

The bouncers helped lift her wheelchair into the club but when Haining’s friend went to the bar for drinks things started to go wrong.

Security staff came over and told her she had to leave, claimed Haining, so she asked to speak with the manager.

A friend filmed the interaction and Haining posted the video on Instagram.

The bar manager approached her, crouched down and repeated that she had to leave the bar.

“You can’t remove me because I’m in a wheelchair,” Haining said in the video. “I know the law. I know my rights. I’m in this chair and I know what I can and can’t do.”

He was “horribly rude, really really rude the whole time he was speaking to me”, Haining said.

Haining told the BBC it was discrimination.

“It’s not okay to be removed from bars because you are disabled and different from other people. If they can be in there then why shouldn’t we?

“But he wasn’t having any of it. He just kept repeating himself and not acknowledging anything.”

Haining said she attempted to educate the manager and showed him the 2010 Equality Act, which prohibits disabled people from being denied access to services.

She said the manager walked off while she was talking to him and didn’t come back.

“I asked, ‘how was I a safety risk?’ If I was a safety risk they wouldn’t have let me in in the first place,” Haining told the BBC.

“They wouldn’t explain why, and then the story changed to that I was a fire risk.”

She tried to explain that evacuation plans must be inclusive so wheelchair users cannot be removed on that basis.

The manager said the venue might get a fine for keeping her in the club and threatened to pass on any costs to Haining.

Club Tropicana said in a statement it was aware of the incident.

Maddie Haining claims she was discriminated by those who kicked her out of Club Tropicana. Photo / Maddie Haining

Haining told the BBC she decided to leave but got the contact details of staff so she could file a complaint.

“The whole thing was really embarrassing. I was in a bar with my friends and kept getting security sent over,” she said.

“It was infuriating as I showed them the law and they had not taken any of it on board.

“I’d never had anything like this happen before, and I know my rights. Being disabled for nearly five years you kind of just learn about this stuff.”