Shameful discrimination against military personnel
 

My son is an SAC. Just got back from somewhere hot and sandy. He went with two civvy friends to Yates’ bar in Wolverhampton. When the door man clocked his ID he and his mates were refused entry. Probably did him a favour, I can think of better places to go.

It’s the principle that annoys me. Has anyone else been turned away from anywhere just because they are military personnel?

The lads are well turned out and not the rowdy type. Maybe his tan wasn’t dark enough.

:mad:

As a new post are you journo baiting?! :}
Not had it happen to me personally but remember the last couple of conflicts have not been the most popular with some of the general public so I think you should tell your son not to take it to heart, it seems to happen everwhere these days. Personally I will always be truely grateful for what you and your family have dealt with this summer.

respectfully,

LMS.

Just re-registered. I have been reading the forum for years but have never been prompted to say anything until now, couldn’t find my login. No I’m not a journo only a proud Dad saddened that some people can get away with this. Thanks for your support. I can imagine some members of other persuasions would have found discrimination like this a cause to riot in the streets.
Commendably my son he did not argue, just walked away and went to another pub. When the landlord of The Lady Wulfrun found out about the incident he and his mates got a free pint. Restores ones faith a bit.

'Clocked his ID'? I'm puzzled, was he compelled to show the doorman his 1250?
What ID did his mates show?

Proof of age maybe?

What is that supposed to mean...?????


Please remove this thread

Goudie, his RAF ID (MOD form 90) was visible when he opened his wallet. He was asked to show his driving license, presumably to prove his age. His pals just got turned away because they were with him.
Fats

Nothing to do with being PC and us being sensitive. Your comment was racist and not acceptable.

PC Titles
 

Fatsbat and the other bloke.

The correct terms now are:
a. "melanistically different"

or

b. "citizens of the new Commonwealth and emergent nations"

Hope this short course in PC speak has been helpful!!!!

However, back to the original gripe: don't show a service ID unless you specifically want to identified - use some other ID including a birth certificate (!!). If the circumstances as reported apply, complain to the Licensing Authority or go to the local newspaper and rubbish the club.

This is probably not uncommon. Here in Warrington, where this has happened a couplke of times recently, licenced premises have a list of forms of ID that can be accepted, as part of their Licence. Military ID cards are not on the list. Accepting them could lead to prosecution. The local council is working to get this changed.

Military ID
 

Firstly, you didn't state that he used his military ID in the first place. Secondly surely driving licence is better in those circumstances for proof of age.
Thirdly groups of young men are often refused from bars.
Fourthly stating that his skin was the wrong colour, well you need to go and give yourself a slap for that comment alone.

All I would say is this is a non starter, there are two sides to every story and often a different version a minute when a group of well refreshed young lads and lasses turn up at a bar with a queue...which I am guessing there probably was if they had to show ID in the first place.

Well done to the bar for being responsible and checking ages of those entering. Not entirely sure that you have an actual point here......

Happened to me twice, once around 82/83 in Inverness. 4 of us were refused entry to a club because we were military. They had had problems with the grunts based at Fort George in Inverness. We showed them our RAF ID's but they were having none of it. Second time was in Hereford at the Crystal Room (I think that was what it was called), in 84. We were not given a reason. Their loss, we took our custom elsewhere and still had a good time.

Newbiep. Read my posts again carefully and you may then understand that I did not say he used his RAF ID as proof of age. He was attempting to get his driving license out when the doorman spotted it in his wallet. Your suspicion that he was with a group of drunken lads and lasses is quite wrong. You are just trying to write another side of this story that just does not exist. I did not state he was the wrong colour either. He is tanned from being in the sun. looks rather good on him actually.
The point is quite obvious. The doorman refused entry to my son and his friends because he is in the RAF. Shame on the doorman and you.

Old Fat One,

If your this easily offended, you are going to have one hell of a life!

Shame on me?! Not really you stated that he had the wrong shade of tan with the express intention of inciting racial discrimination. You also implied that the geographical location, Wolverhampton, meant that white people are discriminated against. I understood that your son took out his driving licence and his ID was spotted. I did infer that he may have been with a group of drunk people but why else would you choose to go to a Yates Wine Lodge. Lets face it, you don't go there for the food....don't pretend to be naive and assume that a group of young people go out on the town for a quiet drink and a chat. The are out to decompress, share their experiences and have fun of course they are merry. No need to be agressive with me. If they had pitched up on a Sunday afternoon in uniform and been refused entry then you may have had a point. I don't think you do. Mountain and molehill springs to mind. Stop trying to fish for stories where military people have had a hard time from the general public.

I've been to a Yates' and it was s--t. I've also been to Wolverhampton and that too was s--t. It sends a shiver down my spine to imagine just how bad Yates' Wolverhampton must be. S--t squared I would guess. The bouncer was probably doing your lad a favour really.

I can't help but feel that this is a case of 'Dry your eyes, Princess'. Man up and move on. Plenty of worse things than this happen every day - it really isn't worth starting a battle over. All-male groups getting refused entry to bars is nothing unusual and I presume it didn't stop him slaking his thirst elsewhere that night. If he's still losing sleep over it tell him to never go back there, and for his mates to do this same. Otherwise grow a thicker skin and find something more pressing to drip about.:rolleyes:

I have a feeling that this may be company policy on the part of Yates' - there have been at least two threads over on Arrse in the last 18 months or so reporting the doormen at a couple of Yates establishments (not including Wolverhampton) denying entry to anyone they identify as service personnel.

The local paper - the Express and Star - is generally pro-forces, and its most popular columnist, a chap called Peter Rhodes, is an ex-TA officer (IIRC, he deployed on Granby). He is unsurprisingly pro-forces and has a habit of being forthright. Think Jeremy Clarkson but a bit more direct.

As an added bonus, the Star has a policy of shifting stories around as the paper goes through the day, which usually means that the final edition will have several stories appearing at least twice, and often three times, so the chance of the OP's complaint being seen, if he writes, are pretty high...

By the by, the Wolverhampton Yates' spontaneously combusts every two and a bit years or so, and if memory serves, precedent suggests it'll go up in smoke some time next year to the distress of a large number of slightly overweight teenage girls with a habit of wearing slightly less clothing than is generally advisable on a night when even a Geordie might consider donning a thin sweater.