A MUM has been left “furious” after her daughter was turned away from a bowling venue when staff allegedly said “we don’t let disabled people in after 5pm”.

Lucy Willers, 25, has cerebral palsy and is reliant on a wheelchair.

Last Tuesday night at 7.15pm, her two carers took her to Hollywood Bowl, on Basildon Festival Leisure Park, where she has previously enjoyed a game of bowling.

Lucy, who has played boccia – similar to bowls – to a national standard, and her two carers were left red-faced and reeling after a receptionist allegedly told them that they wouldn’t be able to have a game due to disabled people not being admitted after 5pm.

Lucy, of South Ockendon, and her carers left without having a game and the incident has left Lucy and her mother, Julie, upset.

Mrs Willers said: “Lucy was very upset.

“She’s been there quite a lot and never had this problem before which makes it worse.

“I was furious, absolutely furious when I heard about this.

“Lucy was very confused about it – it was quite shocking for her.

“In the end they took her to Boydens and had a game there.

“Lucy loves bowling and it is very similar to boccia so she usually wins.”

Mrs Willers added that the manager of Hollywood Bowl offered them a free game of bowling as compensation and told her that the “body language “ of his staff show him that they did nothing wrong when he watched it on CCTV –which does not record sound.

She said that she also sees no reason why the bowling alley would not offer disabled concessions after 5pm.

She said: “They offer family discounts at that time so why not concession rates?

“They would have been happy to pay full whack to have a game so that was not an issue.”

She added that they had never been turned away from something before due to Lucy’s disability, but that they did have problems with access. She said: “Lucy’s wheelchair is quite big so it can be quite difficult.Usually it is we can’t access somewhere rather than we are turned away.”

Other people have also taken to the venue’s Facebook page to criticise what happened to Lucy.

A spokesman for Hollywood Bowl said: “We are truly sorry.

"It goes without saying that disabled people are welcome at our Centres every minute we’re open.

"What Lucy’s carers should have been told was that the concession rate is unavailable after 6pm, but it’s looking like a member of our team in Basildon may somehow have got this message wrong.

"We’re now re-training the team at Hollywood Bowl Basildon to ensure this can’t happen again.”