It's clear from what Turkish writes that the matter is currently in the hands of the club "Unless the club reverses its decision it will lose two lifelong fans" As others have stated its likely to be the ever changing benefits criteria. I work for a business which provides discounted rates for the disabled and plenty of updated certificates and paperwork are required to avoid fraud. Even returning customers have to provide updated info. I'm sure it's been referred to a manager who will help to get it resolved.
I've had some experience of this, They need to see a Entitlement letter stating that the person receives the HIGHER rate mobility, its not set by the club but by the Disabled Supporters Association. I asked to see the policy in writing, fair enough SFC allowed me to see the policy. The staff were polite and very helpful.
Just seen on SaintsWeb that the club have sorted it for him this morning and he will get his season ticket, good news!
Very good point, I work with people entitled to disability benefits, some of the you would never know, others 'look' like they should but aren`t, it is not up to the club to decide who is and isn't disabled. If the club could decide then you have hundreds of people turning up in a wheelchair, getting cheep and a free ticket for a mate. I am in no way questioning the story in the 1st post.
Some people are far too quick getting the knives out to stick into our club and our chairman. We should never jump to conclusions either ways when faced with highly emotional issues like this. It is good to know that Turkish's father has his ticket and lets hope our football this coming season lifts his spirits and enriches his quite difficult and challenging life. As a final point wouldn't it be rather magnanimous if the guy Turkish now recognised the generous and sympathetic nature of our club and the genuine concern that Nicola shows for us fans.
Let's not say "the club's policy" because that reflects badly on Southampton - it's a league wide policy.
I am not one to post here anymore, but I feel I have to defend the club here. I was in a wheelchair last year following surgery, was not registered disabled or on benefits - yet the staff at the club could not have been more courteous or helpful. I have to say, I find this story more than a little surprising - my experience is the exact opposite. I will get back to lurking, sorry.
The club obviously needs proof, but were flexible when the situation was explained. Never expected anything else really.
No need to apologise Jenny.... As usual there is always another side to the coin. Something about this little saga is not quite panning out for me. Certainly from my point of view someone who has a History with the club of obtaining a disabled season ticket and needing wheel chair access seats is highly unlikely to suddenly become abled. Also what on earth has it to do whether he gets benefits or not? If the gentleman is now in a nursing home, his disabled registration is not cancelled or taken away so that is all that would have been needed to be shown. The suspicion for me is that no evidence was taken along regarding the identity as proof for re registering the season ticket holder which has always been my understanding. Certainly since I once tried to get my Grandsons renewal a couple of seasons ago they required evidence. The same applied for me when my son in law tried to get my renewal one time for me.
On this thread the club has come in for a great deal of criticism but as you know that while I am not disabled my dodgy knee means I do need a walking stick and I am a little slow getting around but what really pisses me off though is the behaviour of some of our fans who I have seen jostle some of our older and slower fans and even push past them on the stairwells when exiting the ground in a quite hazardous way. We have a very wide age profile of fans and it should be incumbent on us all to take care of the vulnerable of all ages.
