A DISABLED woman with a terminal illness was left distraught during a family visit after a hotel in Cirencester apparently failed to provide a suitable room.

Esther and Tim Glenville 69 and 70 respectively, had booked a disabled room to stay at Stratton House Hotel through booking.com on November 10, coming from Exeter to see family from Cirencester.

But on arrival the couple were told the only disabled room at the hotel was booked that night so the hotel placed them in an accessible room that did not have the facilities to cater for her extensive needs.

Esther suffers from a brain disorder called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) that has left her unable to walk, no power down one side of her body, and partially sighted.

Her condition is rare and has a limited life expectancy with people known with her condition only living for 6-7 years.

Because of her condition, Esther uses a specialised wheelchair to help her, therefore needing space in her room to move freely.

Esther’s sister-in-law Ruth Chadd, 64 from Cirencester, described the facilities they were given as unacceptable.

Ruth said: “They were told they couldn’t have a disabled room and were instead given an accessible room.

However this room was not big enough, there was not enough space for Esther, they couldn’t use the shower facilities, as Esther could not get in the shower.”

Ruth said that the couple felt the hotel could have been more sympathetic to the situation and offered more to help.

She said: “Tim said they needed to ask for everything.

“We spoke about what happened and it was very matter of fact, saying we did everything we could, end of story, that’s just the way it is.”

Ruth wants to highlight this situation to make sure this doesn’t occur for any other disabled users.

“The hotel currently only has one room with disabled access.

“The new Premier Inn in Cirencester has four rooms and most other hotels will have more.

“They need to accommodate more rooms for disabled people for such a large hotel.”

Stratton House Hotel refuted the claims that the couple were only told on arrival that there were no disabled rooms available.

A spokesperson for the hotel said: “We are very sorry that Esther and Tim had a difficult experience with the hotel’s disabled facilities and our service during their recent stay with us.

“Mr Glenville did however confirm that he was aware, prior to arriving, that we had no disabled rooms available for their stay.

“We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the matter directly with him.”