YOUR article on the restaurant Marzano in Lendal described how wonderful it was it had thought to install a disabled lift and toilets (March 8).

Well please excuse me from being cynical, but as a paraplegic and wheelchair user, I find being able to simply access a property and avail myself of their toilet facilities hardly worthy of such a glowing endorsement.

With long overdue legislation just around the corner, I feel the restaurant, having undergone such a huge recent refit, has simply complied with a requirement that it would have had to make in due course anyway. It can now tap into income from a client group who would otherwise be unable to visit, so it's not all a one-way street.

However, having visited the restaurant the other week, it occurred to me that they might actually have shot themselves in the foot with regard to this new pending legislation. The lift only provides access to the first floor restaurant level.

If I wanted to join a group of friends on the second floor I would be unable to do so. When challenged about this fact, the restaurant manager said she would be happy for me to simply have a drink on the restaurant level - gee thanks, just what I want when my mates are upstairs!

So, despite the scale of the refit, the level of access provided is still limited.

This is merely playing lip service to legislation which seeks to provide full access on all new or refurbished buildings, wherever practically possible.

Graeme Rudd,

Kerver Lane,

Dunnington, York.

Updated: 10:18 Monday, March 24, 2003