Girl with Down Syndrome 'banned from rides at Blackpool Pleasure Beach'

A mother claims her daughter was denied access to rides at Blackpool Pleasure Beach - because she has Down Syndrome.

Emma Patrick, 33, says she was told by staff that the theme park was "not for the disabled" when she tried to visit with three-year-old Lucy.

According to the Mirror, Emma said: "I booked the tickets online and nowhere did it say that the theme park wasn't suitable for disabled people.

"As soon as we arrived, they told us there were only four rides that Lucy could go on because she is disabled.

"But when we tried to go on them, they only let us on one.

"They told us that the rides weren't for the disabled and I wasn't allowed to take her on."

Emma had travelled from Loughborough with her husband and son to enjoy the day out.

According to SWNS, she added: "I didn't want special treatment, she will do what other children will do, but they took one look at her and wrote her off.

"It spoilt the day with people treating her like that because to us she's normal.

"We thought it would be an enjoyable day out and a great place to take children but we felt so discriminated as they even have gates saying 'disabled, enter here'. It's wrong."

Speaking to the Daily Mail, a spokesman for the attraction said: "Blackpool Pleasure Beach takes complaints of every nature very seriously and all are investigated.

"The procedure of how we investigate complaints has recently been overhauled to ensure it is more robust.

"We will be contacting Mrs Patrick to apologise and explain the situation and the outcome of our investigation."

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