A woman that suffers with epileptic fits has been banned from visiting her local Mecca Bingo club due to her condition. While under the Disability Discrimination Act it is against the law to refuse to provide a service to a disabled person, which they would usually provide to any other member of the public, Mecca Bingo are hiding behind Health and Safety laws to justify their decision.

Laura Richards claims that she was told by the staff at Mecca Bingo in Beeston on 5th August not to come back to the club after suffering an epileptic fit during the game of bingo. She was told it was to do with "reasons to do with health and safety".

The lady has been playing bingo since she was 18 years old and claims that due to the fact she cannot drive bingo plays an important part in her life: "I cannot drive or work because of my condition so bingo was my only way of socialising and I really loved it,"

"Being banned is stopping me from really enjoying my life."

The 27 year old from Clifton developed and was diagnosed with epilepsy as a baby after suffering a stroke that left scars underneath her brain. Although she takes medicine to control the condition she still suffers epileptic fits.

Laura added: "The fact I cannot work or drive has already destroyed my life but not being able to attend bingo has left me feeling completely isolated.

"I have lots of friends at the club but unfortunately I cannot see them anymore."

Laura has fits up to three or four times a week but can go for a week at a time without one.

It should be noted that the Mecca Bingo club only opened last May and as Laura has been playing bingo since she was 18 she obviously has played bingo at other clubs. There are a number of local Gala Bingo clubs and Beacon Loughborough is also only a bus ride away.

The manager at the Beeston Mecca Bingo, Neil Tams claimed that the ban was in Laura’s best interest. "The safety of our customers and team members is our highest priority and with that in mind we have taken the decision to ban Laura Richards," he said.

Tams added: "Over the past months there have been several incidents with Laura when she's visited and as a result of these incidents we spoke to Laura and told her she was welcome to visit us but only if she was accompanied by her carer.

"Laura has ignored our request and continued to visit alone. Events that have taken place during her last few visits have led us to believe that in visiting alone she poses a risk to herself and others."

Hopefully during the discussions with Laura, the management team did consider whether or not they could provide any assistance. Clearly, Laura is used to having fits when she is alone having been suffering since birth. In many bingo clubs where customers suffers from epilepsy it becomes widely known amongst the customers and they just carry on playing bingo accepting it as ‘background noise’. One customer we spoke to at a club in Yorkshire commented “for many years we had a customer here that came in every evening. She used to have a fit maybe every week. Someone would just ensure there was nothing hard or sharp around her at the time. It was no big deal everyone would carry on playing bingo. A member of staff would just keep an eye on her.” It should be noted in this case her husband used to come to bingo with her a lot of the time.

The management at Mecca Beeston have taken the decision that Laura’s condition poses a risk to herself or others. No doubt they will have taken advice on the matter and as Laura is considering taking action against the company the matter could set an interesting precedent in reference to the disability discrimination laws applied to bingo clubs. Staff at the Mecca Bingo club have on three occasions called an Ambulance, however Laura states that there has never been an occasion that she has been treated or gone to hospital.

Laura will be able to argue that an Ambulance was not necessary. Many emergency calls made by staff in bingo clubs are false alarms or require no action. Lack of First Aid training and staff members panicking in times of an emergency are normally the reasons for this. Staff members only need to call for an ambulance where someone has suffered an epileptic fit if:

• You know it is the person’s first seizure

• The seizure continues for more than five minutes

• One tonic-clonic seizure follows another without the person regaining consciousness between seizures

• The person is injured during the seizure

• You believe the person needs urgent medical attention

Another problem that Mecca could face is that employers are required by law to ensure that a qualified First Aider is on site. Both the St John’s and Red Cross First Aid training courses cover in detail how to deal with epileptic fits. Having close contact with a number of bingo operators we don't believe it is necessary for all staff to have an intricate knowledge of various illnesses but if a particular regular customer suffers from a condition such as epilepsy it would be deemed a positive step to spend a moment to research the condition that would benefit both the inidividual that suffers and members of staff that would come into contact. Most bingo clubs will have customers that suffer epileptic fits and the condition is a lot more common than people realise. In fact 1 in 20 people will suffer a single seizure in their lifetime. More than 1 in 140 people suffer from epilepsy. With the average bingo club having around 2000 admissions a week, the probability is that each club has at least 15 visits a week with people suffering epilepsy.

Laura may also argue that as bingo clubs attract many older customers many of these will be suffering or have suffered from at least one medical condition that could if suffered at bingo put them or others at risk e.g. asthma, stroke or heart attack. Again staff should be sufficiently trained. If someone attends bingo with their friends it maybe the case that the friends could offer to be the carer or assistant while the person is at bingo.

Epilepsy Action spokesperson Louise Whalley said: "Although we cannot comment on individual cases, it is unacceptable for a bingo hall or any other establishment to discriminate against a person because of their epilepsy. Some people with epilepsy may feel more comfortable taking someone with them, but this is entirely the choice of the individual.

"Businesses that deal with the public should provide training for staff on epilepsy and what to do if a customer has a seizure."

There is an exception if there are fears about the health or safety of the disabled person, or others around them.