A wheelchair-dependent Glenrothes boy enjoyed a special photoshoot with his hero Fireman Sam thanks to The Courier.
Seven-year-old Conner Bermingham met his cartoon hero at the Kingdom Shopping Centre during the switch-on of the Christmas lights.
Conner’s mother Louise Bermingham, 34, who lives in the Macedonia area of the town, had been involved in a social media exchange with the centre last week, during which she accused management of discriminating against her son because it was not providing a wheelchair area for the event.
She then contacted The Courier to say she had been “absolutely disgusted” to learn of the Kingdom Centre’s policy because her son “idolises” Fireman Sam.
She feared he would not be able to see the lights switch-on if he was stuck in a wheelchair at the back of the crowds.
However, when The Courier asked if Conner could be photographed with Fireman Sam, centre management and Sam were only too pleased to make Conner’s day with some special pictures.
The youngster, who is a primary three pupil in the special needs unit at Rimbleton School, was all smiles as Sam posed with him among the festive crowds.
Kingdom Shopping Centre manager Robert Winter told The Courier up to 2,000 people attended the switch-on and he hoped everyone had gone home happy.
He strongly rejected any suggestion the shopping centre would discriminate against wheelchair users.
He said: “The centre and Lyon Square where the event was held is fully accessible to people in wheelchairs and people with children’s buggies.
“That is no different to what we’ve done in previous years when we did not provide a designated wheelchair area either.
“The woman may think we have but we haven’t. The reason for that is that the square is too small for us to have a separate area, with the volume of people who attend the switch-on.
“Obviously, whenever we hold this event, public safety is right at the top of my list. We do a risk assessment.
“We have taken the view that there is just not space for a separate area.
“This year we had a family show with Fireman Sam. There were hundreds of people with buggies, which was no different to the access requirements of someone with a wheelchair.”
Mr Winter said the event passed off “extremely well”, adding: “We are pleased that Fireman Sam was able to do a special photo shoot with Conner and a number of other wheelchair users.
“We wouldn’t dream of discriminating against anyone in a wheelchair. We had good crowds and a lot of people have gone home happy.”
The Kingdom Shopping Centre event also included the Kingdom FM roadshow.
However, not everything went quite according to plan.
One shopper said: “There were a few wry smiles when Fireman Sam turned up late for the lights switch-on.
“But someone forgot to mention it to Kingdom FM, who started the countdown without him, meaning there was no one on stage to set them off when they lit up oops!”