John Lewis accused of not providing sufficient changing spaces for severely disabled people by mother

'They don't provide #changingplaces for severely disabled people & refuse to do so'

Twitter (@MumsMissions)

A mother from Worthing has hit out at John Lewis for not providing sufficient facilities for "severely disabled" people.

Laura Moore shared a photograph on Twitter of her friend’s disabled daughter, whose nappy was being changed on the floor of what appears to be a small disabled toilet.

Moore, whose eight-year-old son has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, is calling for the major retailer to improve its facilities to accommodate shoppers with disabilities.

“While everyone is swooning over how wonderful the new @johnlewisretail advert is... just take a moment to look at this photo which was taken in one of their stores because they don't provide #changingplaces for severely disabled people & refuse to do so. Priorities,” she wrote on Twitter on Friday.

Moore’s tweet has since gone viral, with more than 1,500 re-tweets and 1,200 likes.

She swiftly followed up with a Twitter poll, asking her followers whether their local John Lewis stores had the space to install better facilities for disabled people.

“They say there is a lack of space in their stores to provide a bench and hoist #changingplaces facility for disabled people to be able to use the loo. What do you think?” she asked.

So far, 66 per cent of respondents have said there would be space for such a facility in their local store; only 9 per cent said there wouldn't be enough space.

Moore is one of the chief campaigners in the long-running Changing Places campaign, which is calling on retailers, hospitals and city centres to install better dedicated toilet facilities for people with disabilities, claiming that there are less than 1,000 across the UK.

Speaking to Mail Online, Moore explained that this is “not just a John Lewis problem, it's an all retailer problem.”

In response, a spokesperson for John Lewis responded:

“We have disabled customer toilets and parent and child facilities in our shops, unfortunately due to the limited space we are unable to make the changes that Changing Places desire at this point in time in existing shops.

“However, we are reviewing the feasibility of putting hoists and changing benches in new department stores and including this in store refurbishment plans.

“We continue to work closely with shopping centre developers to influence the addition of these facilities in shopping centres.”