A single father in the UK has hit out at a pub for refusing to sell his 18-year-old son a pint due to his disability.
Like many dads out there, Jim Green wanted to celebrate his son's 18th birthday by treating him to his first legal pint.
However, he claims that the landlord of this village pub in Dorset, England, refused to serve teenager Hadyn any alcohol due to the fact that his son has autism and global development delay.
Green first vented his anger on social media in the Autism Parents Support Group earlier this week.
In his post, he explained: "I'm a single parent, raised my son alone since 5 months old. He turned 18 last December. We have been frequenting the local pub for approximately 6 years. The day before his 18th, I received the following message."
Green attached a screenshot of the alleged text he received from the pub landlord, which stated that Hadyn "is not a normal 18-year-old" because he has a "lower mental capacity". The landlord then allegedly claimed that it would be like "serving alcohol to a nine-year-old".
The message concluded: "As a parent you should be concerned that alcohol in any form would be detrimental to [Hadyn] because of his mental capacity, he would not be able to deal with it. I am not prepared to risk my license because you think [Hadyn] should be given alcohol, regardless of age."
In his Facebook post, the father explained: "I am merely asking for my son to be allowed to be treated like every other 18-year-old. As his dad and sole carer it is my responsibility to make decisions for my son, not some bigot with outdated attitudes."
Green added: "We all strive to have our children treated equally, why should this be any different? My son is in full possession of the facts and can make informed decisions."
"[Hadyn] is also on no medication, is verbal, and can hold basic conversations," the father continued. "Every child on the spectrum is different, please bear this in mind."
Speaking to The Sun, Green further explained that they had booked to celebrate Hadyn's birthday at the pub the day after his 18th, and had briefly mentioned to the landlord that he was planning on limiting the teenager's alcohol to just two pints.
It was then that he says he was told that pub landlord Geoff Mockford shared his concerns.
According to UK licensing solicitors PopplestonAllen, "Common law states that a licensee can refuse service to anyone he or she chooses, provided the refusal is not on grounds of sex, race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and religion or belief."
However, despite Green stating that the pub "didn't budge" and refused to sell Hadyn any alcohol, Mockford has refuted these claims.
Posting a prepared statement on The Dorset Soldier's Facebook page, he writes: "[Hadyn's 18th Birthday was on the 12th Dec 2022 which went ahead as normal and [Hadyn] had 3 pints of Lager to my knowledge and we photographed him on the day with his drink.
"The accusations of discrimination against Hadyn are totally unfounded and did not happen. After the party was over everybody left and we have not seen Jim Green or Haydyn since."
The landlord continued: "I would like to point out that we as a Licensed business have a duty of care towards our customers regardless of age, disability, or gender.
"We support the local community and have done so for many years especially through the lockdown period. We are very saddened that it has come to this through no fault of our own, and have wholeheartedly supported our community when needed."
In a reply to one commenter, Mockford reiterated: "All I was saying I was concerned how alcohol might affect [Hadyn], after seeing him grow up the last 6 years. Mental age is quite low so concerns there, as a landlord I have duty of care for all my customers. And we do have groups here as well with carers."
As a result of the story, The Dorset Soldier has since been hit with several 1-star reviews on Google.
