‘We feel so upset that anyone would think or feel that we are discriminatory’
St Fagans Castle, Penarth(Image: Google)
A pub landlady has apologised following a backlash to her social media comment about a “special bus”.
Debbie Jones, who runs Penarth’s St Fagans Castle pub with her husband Huw, denied making fun of disabled people but told us she was sorry for not wording her comment “correctly”.
The row began after Mrs Jones, using the pub’s Facebook page, posted a photograph of graffiti in its toilets. She also shared a CCTV image of the man she suspected of being responsible for scrawling the tag on the wall.
Mrs Jones wrote: “CCTV always catches them out. They must think we are all thick or blind. Maybe it’s a local colouring competition for people with limited abilities that came in on a yellow-coloured special bus if you know what I mean.”
This remark has sparked hundreds of Facebook comments in the last few days, many of which accuse Mrs Jones of being insensitive to disabled people. One woman wrote: “Would rather be around people with limited abilities than people with views like you.”
Mrs Jones then posted a statement addressing the controversy. “I made a comment about the man that did some graffiti here in the pub,” she wrote from the pub’s Facebook account. “It was about his immaturity and being on a yellow bus.
“Now for some reason people think this has to do with a disability. Everyone that knows us knows that this would never lie within our values.”
This failed to calm the situation as some people accused the pub of failing to take accountability. “You literally wrote ‘people with limited abilities’,” commented one woman. “Take ownership of your comment and apologise properly, not deflect it.”
One customer, Sylvie John, told WalesOnline she was a regular at St Fagans Castle but that she would not return, adding: “I believe language of this nature is demeaning to disabled people and contributes to the stigma and discrimination they can face.”
When we called the pub Mrs Jones denied making any reference to disabled people. We then asked what she had meant by the words “special bus” if not a bus for those with special needs.
She said she would reply by email and shortly afterwards sent us this statement: “We feel so upset that anyone would think or feel that we are discriminatory. However I can see why my comment has been taken that way.
“I should have made sure that it was worded correctly and taken my time to understand how it came across. I send my deepest apologies to anyone that has been offended.
“Unfortunately the original post was about a man that had drawn graffiti on our bathroom wall and during the comments on that thread I wrote about his immaturity to do such a thing as it is childish behaviour… I mentioned him and a yellow bus and what I should have taken the time to write was ‘school bus’ not yellow bus.
“So I totally see how this could have offended people. It was a wrong comment to make and as soon as I realised that I submitted an apology on the pub social media, not that this takes away the comment, but an apology was needed from myself.
“Thankfully we have a lot of loyal customers that know the ‘real’ us and know how much we support the community and various local charities in the three years we have been here.”
She pointed to the pub’s fundraising for Reel Minds. The community organisation, based in Pontypridd, helps people improve their mental health through fishing.
One of those to complain on Facebook explained she had been so upset because some families experience supposed “harmless jokes” about disability on a daily basis and “until you’ve lived it you will never understand”.
Another woman offered a different perspective, writing: “At the end of the day it was an unfortunate comment and should never [have] been made… but the people who know you, like you said, know that you would never intentionally insult a special needs person. The way you are with my SEN [special educational needs] son proves that.
“He can’t wait to see you. Not sure he’s bothered about seeing anyone else to be honest.”
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