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Wetherspoon Staff Accuse Woman With Stoma Bag Of Taking Drugs Following Frequent Toilet Visits

Wetherspoon Staff Accuse Woman With Stoma Bag Of Taking Drugs Following Frequent Toilet Visits

The woman has written an open letter to the pub chain calling for greater awareness of 'invisible disabilities'

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

A student who was accused of taking drugs by Wetherspoon staff after frequent toilet visits is calling for greater awareness of 'invisible disabilities'.

Amber Davies, from Builth Wells, Wales, has had a stoma bag since she was 13, when she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.

But while on a night out at The Dragon Inn in Birmingham, she said she was 'grabbed' by a bouncer who 'very happily and very openly accused me of snorting, dealing and having sex in the disabled toilet for 'there is no other reason I would need to visit it so often''.

Amber Davies was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when she was 13.
Amber Davies/Instagram

Recounting her experience to the BBC, the 21-year-old said: "I got grabbed by a female bouncer and my boyfriend by a male bouncer, we were accused of using them [the disabled toilet] for the wrong reasons.

"She [the bouncer] was quite reluctant to listen to my side of the story, I said it bluntly and I didn't raise my voice once.

"I was upset at the time, we hadn't done anything wrong. I spoke well considering. I was more annoyed that people were allowed to behave that way.

"[It's] just completely unacceptable and they're such a big chain, you'd think they'd have training or be knowledgeable before grabbing us."

The student - who is about to start her third year at Cardiff University - has posted an open letter to the pub on Instagram. In it, she says she sometimes needs to empty her stoma up to 15 times, which 'can make going out, especially on nights out, a pretty daunting prospect'.


She added: "I love my stoma and my stoma bag for the new lease of life they have given me however, something I do not love [are] the stigmas and taboos within society and people's assumptions/lack of understanding, empathy and education that come along with living with this thing."

Ms Davies also contacted the pub chain to complain about her treatment and was offered a gift voucher.

A Wetherspoon spokesman said: "A female member of door staff spoke with Ms Davies, who explained her disability.

"Staff expressed that if this had been known beforehand, or an explanation given sooner, the situation could have been avoided.

"Staff listened at length to Ms Davies' points, never once questioning her disability and apologised for the confusing situation on both sides."

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/Amber Davies

Topics: UK News, Wetherspoon, Alcohol, Health