The general manager of the cinema backed his staff before Odeon issued an apology.
Richard Bridger, a wheelchair-bound man who requires the use of a ventilator to keep him alive, was kicked out of a cinema in Epsom because of complaints that he was being too noisy. Bridger, 31, suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy but was asked to leave the Epsom Odeon 40 minutes into a showing of Taken 3 after apparently upsetting fellow cinemagoers.
Mr Bridger was watching a screening of Taken 3
Mr Bridger, who requires the use of a ventilator for 18 hours a day, was sat in the cinema's wheelchair bay when he and his carer were asked to leave. The pair were informed that six people out of the 200-strong audience were "complaining that the ventilator was a nuisance," Mr Bridger's father Steve Bridger told the Epsom Guardian.
He added that staff told his son's carer they should not visit the cinema on Friday or Saturday nights as they are too busy.
More: read the full review of Taken 3
Mr Bridger accused Odeon of not taking disability serious enough but was horrified to find that the general manager backed the way his staff had treated Steven. He was given a refund by way of compensation.
"If he was texting or answering phone calls during the film I could understand it, but he can't do any of those things because he doesn't have the physical strength to do them," Mr Bridger said.
Odeon has since apologized for the incident, saying in a statement, "We sincerely apologise for the way this matter was handled and for the upset it caused," adding that Mr Bridger can return to watch the film for free at any time, while the company is "looking again at what happened to ensure it never happens again".
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