A recent incident involving a bingo hall’s decision to remove a player may have gone a bit too far.
Regular bingo player, Louis Bunn, 23, was removed and banned from Leo Leisure Bingo in East Sussex because of outbursts caused by Tourette's syndrome.
Staff thought that he was causing a disturbance with his involuntary tics, shouting and swearing on purpose.
Bunn said: “A member of staff was very disrespectful to me and this made my tics worse.
“When I confronted the person I told him I couldn't help it and that I was being discriminated against.
“As the night went on, the staff working the bingo made a few remarks on the microphone regarding my Tourette's and I felt like I was being singled out."
The bingo hall owner, Peter Brown, believes that the decision to remove and ban Bunn was validated as he claims that he had 'sworn and spat at' him.
Brown said: “I am aware of his condition and have never had a problem with it in any way.
“I've spoken to other people to make them aware of his condition and told them that he was a nice person.
“But we'd had a complaint in that week that he had jumped out of his seat and got very aggressive towards an old lady.
“I told him he was welcome to continue playing but we would not accept him being aggressive to customers.
“He was aggressive to me, my female members of staff and I was sworn and spat at. I've never been spoken to like that.”
Do you think the right decision was made?
By Glo Wood
Regular bingo player, Louis Bunn, 23, was removed and banned from Leo Leisure Bingo in East Sussex because of outbursts caused by Tourette's syndrome.
Staff thought that he was causing a disturbance with his involuntary tics, shouting and swearing on purpose.
Bunn said: “A member of staff was very disrespectful to me and this made my tics worse.
“When I confronted the person I told him I couldn't help it and that I was being discriminated against.
“As the night went on, the staff working the bingo made a few remarks on the microphone regarding my Tourette's and I felt like I was being singled out."
The bingo hall owner, Peter Brown, believes that the decision to remove and ban Bunn was validated as he claims that he had 'sworn and spat at' him.
Brown said: “I am aware of his condition and have never had a problem with it in any way.
“I've spoken to other people to make them aware of his condition and told them that he was a nice person.
“But we'd had a complaint in that week that he had jumped out of his seat and got very aggressive towards an old lady.
“I told him he was welcome to continue playing but we would not accept him being aggressive to customers.
“He was aggressive to me, my female members of staff and I was sworn and spat at. I've never been spoken to like that.”
Do you think the right decision was made?
