Disabled theatre tickets being charged more

rasputinaemond

hi,

has anyone been charged more for a disabled, accessible seat at a theatre. i don’t mean the complimentary carer ticket which is v helpful for me to be able to attend the venue. I am talking being charged extra. the cheapest non disabled tickets are available- these are £15 and you can still buy these. the accessible tickets are £35 & £45 for a wheelchair seat, which seems a hell of a lot.

the equality act says that disabled people can’t be charged any more for services. does anyone know what the answer is?

Rosie_Scope

Hi @rasputinaemond, welcome to the community. Are the accessible seats placed somewhere near the other higher priced seats or are they in the same place as the cheaper ones?

Sometimes theatres will charge by the view that you'll get from wherever you sit, so if the accessible ones are somewhere in the stalls near the front then perhaps they're charging them at a similar price to the surrounding seats. If there aren't any accessible seats anywhere cheaper that doesn't seem very fair though. I'm not too sure about how the equality act fits in with these kinds of things but I'll have a read to see if I can find any more information.

You could try getting in touch with the box office to see if they can offer you anything, it may be worth asking at least.

rasputinaemond

hi there

thanks.

they are having to put me in a box and were trying to charge me box prices, which were £57. they are now saying they will charge me £47 which is the same as a wheelchair space. the thing is, there are still v cheap tickets still left at £15.

i’m pretty sure equality act says, i shouldn’t have to pay more.

i’d get it if all £15 tickets are sold out but they have 6 left.

isn’t it called positive discrimination, when the bonus is you get a better view?

Rosie_Scope

Hi @rasputinaemond It's a tough one! It does seem unreasonable if that's the only seat accessible to you, but I'm afraid I can't find much information on how the law applies in this area and I wouldn't like to give you the wrong information. If the box office won't offer anything further, you could try contacting the Equalities Advisory and Support Service to see if they can advise you on your rights:

Contact Us - Equality Advisory and Support Service

There's also a page on the Scope site about disability discrimination that you might like to read through:

Disability discrimination by private and public service providers | Disability charity Scope UK

Sorry I couldn't offer any more solid guidance, from what I've read it's a bit of a grey area with lots of different factors to it. Some of our members might have experiences to share too so I hope they'll be along soon.

rasputinaemond

Thanks Rosie

appreciate you getting back to me. will contact the venue again.