Man unable to dine at disabled-friendly Falkirk restaurant as wheelchair was 'too high' for table

Ian Jarvie had arranged to have a meal at Moon Light Kitchen in Manor Street last Friday, and specified he would require a wheelchair-accessible table.

Redding resident Ian, who has Friedreich's ataxia – a genetic, progressive, neurodegenerative movement disorder – was told the Indian restaurant was disabled-friendly.

However, the 37-year-old only discovered upon arrival that he would be unable to dine at the eatery, where staff regrettably said the tables were too low to meet his needs.

Having isolated for much of the pandemic, Ian revealed the incident shook his confidence and will make him think twice about going out in future.

He said: “With Covid, I haven’t been out.

“My mum was trying to get me to go out but, with it not being suitable for me to get in, it made me not want to go out.

“With it being newly opened and the fact that it’s got a disabled toilet, I think that it needs to be highlighted.

“I’d like them to change their tables and be a bit more helpful to disabled customers - the table had a lip round it.

“All they said was ‘sorry’. They didn’t say, ‘We have a different table’ or ‘You can get a takeaway’.

“They never really helped.”

Moon Light Kitchen said the venue wasn’t informed of the height of Ian’s wheelchair.

Manager Sagar K.C. said: “We do have disabled access and disabled toilets.

“We have a table for disabled customers. What the customer didn’t tell us was the height of the wheelchair they were using.

“We had a specific area for them, however, the chair they were using was a bit too high so therefore we couldn’t do anything.

“I would say it was more than a metre high, so that’s the reason why we couldn’t accommodate them.

“They asked if we had an area where they could dine, however, they didn’t let us know the height that was necessary.

“We had a separate area of the property for the diners so that there wouldn’t be any issue.”

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