Overview

Dangerous seating unsuitable for wheelchairs. Arrived to find the theatre covered in scaffolding which made the approach difficult. Entrance to our seats was from a side door that you pressed a buzzer and waited we waited over 5 minutes with an attendant to get access luckily it was a dry night although a bit cold. We were shown to our seats I was in front and was on quite a steep decline ( the kings is an old Victorian theatre) there was a pillar and a 3 steps down to the emergency doors. The camber on this part of the floor went down to the left then up a little the down again but it pulled my chair even after it had stopped for a second I thought I was going over the steps. This is where the seats were. I thought I had bought a wheelchair space but it was a transfer seat just as well I could transfer or I would have been going home. The first seat was broken it over extended so was too low for me so I had to go to the next seat in which was behind another seat so people trying to get out the row had to climb over me. I was hurt on a few occasions with people knocking my damaged knee. It was not ideal. We watch as people nearly missed falling at the stair all night it was disconcerting. This theatre needs a visit from whoever recommends these seats as suitable they are not. Won’t ever book these seats again J35,,36

Transport & Parking

I drove I parked in the NCP car park just behind the theatre. It was not that busy it was a mid week performance so not a big show. It cost £5 there is parking around the streets but there are lots of road works going on at the minute and also lots of one way traffic to navigate. If you know Glasgow well street parking is good if not the car parks or public transport. The Glasgow underground isn’t that far way either

Access

As I said in the into the theatre is covered in scaffolding sept 24 so accessing the main entrance to have your seat validated then having to navigate back round the side to enter through the side door which was locked and was only opened when a buzzer was pressed. The buzzer was too high for me to reach my daughter did it. It took the attendant over 5 minutes to open the door to us. There was about 8 disabled people by this time. It was a dry night but windy and cold. When we first asked where our seats where someone pointed and said over there. Then an attendant came and said she would take us to our seats. She was very helpful and looked after us from that point on. She took my powerchair away and brought it back at the end of the show. As I said in the into. The seats J35 36 where at the side of 3 steps down to the emergent exits and it had a terrible camber on the flop that made you fall over to the left to the stairs as it went down hill to the stage. It is a very dangerous part with no signage to warn you of it. It pulled my powerchair as I stopped I thought I was going to fall down the stairs. A few people sitting actually gasped then asked if I was ok. The attendant herself said it was dangerous and that she expected people to have accidents there

Toilets

The accessible toilet was at the side door we came in. I used it at the end of the show. If the side door had been closed I would not have had the turning space to get in and out it was so tight. The door was a bi fold doir which did not open gully so it was narrower than it should could have been there where no hand rsils for transferring and no emergency cord. The toilet was old and dirty to be candid I didn’t sit on the loo I saved my no1 and just emptied my stoma bag. That’s how bad it was.

Staff

Some of the staff where very helpful one or two need a lot of training in basic customer care never mind dealing with disabled people. I was fortunate that the girl who dealt with me was very helpful

Anything else you wish to tell us?

I have an unpaired autoimmune system so I need to be careful. The man in front of me used a vape all night and no one asked him to stop. I didn’t either but it wasn’t my place to. Also a member of staff opened the two double emergency doors at the side of our seats to allow people to go out and smoke. It was a windy cold night so apart from being cold the smoke kept blowing in onto us. Everyone got up and were dancing so we didn’t see a lot of the show. It was a good show music was amazing but the ambiance and the disabled care let much to be desired. I am booked for another 2 shows but I have moved the seats to a different area in the theatre