Afflicted with muscular dystrophy, a woman is fuming a Calgary store owner ordered her to leave his shop because she was in a motorized scooter. Beth Neufeld said she went into Island Foods in Eau Claire Market last weekend to buy some chips when she was confronted by owner Al Samnani. "He came up to me and he said 'You have to get out of here with that,'" the 40-year-old said yesterday, referring to the scooter she relies on for mobility. Shocked, Beth said she put the chips down and left the store to find her husband, Vic Neufeld.
Samnani said he asked Beth to leave because her scooter couldn't fit through his narrow aisles, adding he offered to assist her with making her purchase.
"Nobody can move around in my store in a wheelchair," said Samnani, adding his two-foot wide aisles also can't accommodate baby strollers.
Samnani admitted it was "a delicate situation," but said he was concerned about merchandise toppling off shelves. "She was forcing her way in," he said. "It was a matter of common sense."
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...41206-sun.html
It's hard to comment on this without knowing what really happened. She says she was just trying to get some snacks and the store owner booted her out for no real reason. The store owner claims that she was trying to drive her scooter down the aisles and she wasn't fitting through. He also says he asked if he could get what she wanted.
Now, the truth probably is somehwere in the middle. If he just didn't like her in there because she was taking up space....then he would not be justified in asking her to leave. If she cam ramming in there trying to manouver through tight spaces, with no real concern about what she was doing.....then I could see him asking her to wait at the front of the store and he could get what she needed. Who knows what happened, it could be a little of both. But I have seen a lot of these people on scooters driving around like they own the road.