Poor access at police stations for disabled

Neither Grimsby nor Immingham police stations, the only two open to the public in North East Lincolnshire, have disabled parking and present a series of problems inside and out, an inspection by disabled people revealed.

The visually impaired would find it difficult to find the inquiry desks because of the lack of colour contrast between walls and doors, and the desks were too high for wheelchair users to see over.

Neither desk was fitted with a hearing loop and nobody on duty knew how to access a British sign language interpreter.

The emergency cord in the disabled toilet at Immingham was taped up, making it impossible to use, and when it was pulled nobody came to find out why.

A reset button had not been fitted and none of the staff knew how to turn the alarm off.

The survey, carried out on behalf of Humberside Police Authority, found staff had only limited knowledge of equality, diversity and access issues.

Ruth Scott, director of policy and campaigns at disability charity Scope, said: "In general there has been slow progress on improving access for disabled people to all public buildings, including police stations, but it is something public bodies have a legal responsibility to do.

"Police forces should ensure that police stations which are open to the public can be used by everyone in the local community."

A spokeswoman for Humberside Police said: "We appreciate the concerns raised and wherever possible and reasonable we try to cater for people with disabilities.

"We acknowledge there are areas that need improvements and we are working our way through them."