The Bad - Boots Portobello

Where: 174 Portobello High Street, Edinburgh, EH15 1EX

Boots has both good and bad points. The good being that they have disabled access- a ramp and a power assisted door. The bad being that the button to open the door is placed up high and is therefore unreachable for powerchair users. This means that the individual in the powerchair has to wait till either a member of staff or the public comes and opens the door for them. The staff are friendly and willing to help.

How could they make it better? Move the button down to make it easy to reach for powerchair users.

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Permalink Reply by Ailsa June MacLean on September 6, 2013 at 23:01

The small Boots in Abbeyhill Road Cranhill, Glasgow does not have a disabled access ramp. In fact they have a long, raIsed step leading to the disabled access button! I have skidded three times in the rain in my electric wheelchair, trying to mount the step in order to get to the access button to open the shop door! So far I have crashed into the shop wall twice and almost toppled over once. I'm amazed that a shop like Boots would not have even noticed that not only is the step a hazard but that the access button is at the wrong end of the step! It appears that neither the Portobello Boots nor this Glasgow Boots realise that the button is an aid for the disabled! I wonder, how many other Boots access buttons are in the wrong place?

I rang customer services to tell them and they were very nice and helpful. However nothing has been done yet to make things better. They were going to install a moveable ramp but the manager said it would be stolen if it was removable. Now it seems that they will have to apply to the council for planning permission (which seems ridiculous as they are the last shop on the block and not in any ones way) so I guess it will be a couple of years before a ramp is installed now. I first reported the problem in August 2012 to the staff in the shop but they apparently didn't pass my complaint on! It was April 2013 when I made a formal complaint to Boots Customer Services so goodness knows when it will be fixed. Sadly I can't wait any longer and have taken my custom to another pharmacy.