Is it illegal for shops with two or more floors not to have a lift? If it isn’t it blooming well should be. I was in Woolwich yesterday, and I thought I’d go into WH smiths to look for some books. I need a couple for my work as well as for pleasure. So I went in, only to find there were no books, only magazines and sweets. I was beginning to wonder when smiths stopped being a book store, when I saw a sign: the books were upstairs. I thought: ‘fair enough’ and began to look for a lift…

Only, I couldn’t find one. thinking that there must be one, I asked an assistant. ‘Sorry sir’ she said ‘we don’t have a lift’. I must say that I was taken aback. Surely under the DDA that’s illegal, isn’t it? Okay it might have been an old building, but it wouldn’t have been hard to install a lift. I left the shop feeling quite disappointed.