Here is the uncomfortable truth about complaints: the angrier and longer they are, the easier they are to ignore. Organisations deal with fury every day; they have a process for it, and the process is a sympathetic template reply. What they find much harder to ignore is a short, specific, documented complaint that names a legal duty and asks answerable questions.
The five rules
- Write it down. Phone calls vanish. Emails and letters create a record — and a deadline.
- Be specific. Date, time, place, names if you have them, what you asked for, what happened. Two short paragraphs of fact beat two pages of feeling.
- Name the duty. “Under the Equality Act 2010 you have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments” transforms your email from feedback into a legal matter that must be assessed.
- Ask answerable questions. “What is your policy? What went wrong? What will you change, and by when?” Questions demand answers; venting invites apologies.
- Say what happens next. Name the escalation route (ombudsman, EASS, county court) — calmly, once. It signals you know the path and will walk it.
Template letter
Copy, adapt, send. Keep it under a page.
Dear [Manager / Customer Services],
On [date] at approximately [time], at [venue / route / station], I was unable to [board / enter / use the facility] because [the barrier — e.g. “the ramp was not deployed” / “no accessible seating was available” / “the accessible toilet was in use as storage”]. I asked [staff member, if known] for [the adjustment you requested] and [what happened].
I am disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010. Under the Act, [organisation] has an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled customers, and I believe the above amounts to a failure of that duty.
Please tell me: (1) what your policy requires in this situation; (2) why it was not followed on this occasion; and (3) what steps you will take — and by when — to ensure it does not happen again.
I would welcome a resolution directly with you. If I do not receive a substantive response within 14 days, I will escalate this to [Bus Users UK / London TravelWatch / the Rail Ombudsman / your head office / the Equality Advisory & Support Service] and take further advice on a claim under the Act.
Yours faithfully,
[Name]
Where to escalate
- Buses: the operator first; then Bus Users UK (outside London) or London TravelWatch.
- Trains: the train operator; then the Rail Ombudsman (free, binding on the operator).
- Councils (blocked stops, broken dropped kerbs, parking enforcement): the council’s formal complaints procedure, then the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.
- Shops, venues, hospitality: head office; then EASS (0808 800 0082) for advice, and ultimately the county court — claims normally within six months less one day.
- Anything: your MP’s office moves mountains, especially with public bodies.
You are not being difficult. You are doing free quality-assurance for an organisation that failed a legal duty — and paving the way for the next person.
Keep every reply, note every deadline, and if you’d like backup, tell us what happened — patterns across many reports are how local failures become campaigns. More on your underlying rights: the Equality Act in plain English.