A dispensing optician at the Burnley branch of Specsavers was reported to police yesterday after the mother of an autistic child alleged he referred to her five-year-old son as a ‘spaz.’
Mother of four Sarah Ford made the complaint to Lancashire Constabulary after sharing her experience on Facebook, which now has over 1,000 shares.
Ford alleged she was told by the DO that she had to select two different pairs of glasses to comply with the company’s buy-one-get-one-free offer, but her son maintained he wanted just one.
When she tried to explain her son’s condition, asking the DO if he was familiar with dealing with autistic children, she alleged she was told: ‘Yes I’ve convinced a few spaz’s in my life,’ while laughing with a colleague. Ford further alleged that after making a complaint to the manager of the store, she was told nothing would be done by head office because he needed staff.
‘On entering Specsavers, the testing guy he was actually amazing, he went out of his way to make my child feel comfortable, then u (sic) have the dispensing optician who is probably the most disgusting human being I have ever come across,’ wrote Ford in her Facebook post.
Lancashire Constabulary told Optician that an officer spent several hours looking into the matter, but further than an agreement between the two parties that there was a dispute, no evidence of what was or wasn’t said could be obtained. ‘The staff member denies using the word which is being alleged by the customer and says he used the word “kids,” said a force spokesperson.
Specsavers said it was investigating the allegation as a matter of priority.
Ford declined to comment further to Optician as she had sought legal advice.
