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Pensioner, 93, sat with her 'leg in the air' during Jane McDonald concert after mix-up with seats

Denise Stronach. Images: Gordon Terris
Denise Stronach. Images: Gordon Terris

A WOMAN sat with her “leg in the air” during a Jane McDonald concert in Glasgow - after a mix-up with seats.

Denise Stronach purchased two tickets to take her dad to the signer’s show at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, but he suddenly passed away in April this year.

The 57-year-old decided to take her mum, aged 93, who has replacement hips and knees and uses a zimmer frame.

Glasgow Times: Newsquest
Glasgow Times: Newsquest

Newsquest

Due to having general seating tickets, Denise took her mum to the hall on the day of the show earlier this month, to see if accessible seats could be arranged.

She said: “We’ve never been in the hall before, so we went up on the Saturday morning. I took mum on two buses from East Kilbride.

“The staff were really nice to us. They told us not to worry and that the duty manager knows all about it and will make sure we’d be able to get seats and enjoy the show. They couldn’t have been nicer.”

On the night, Denise and her mum were taken to alternative seats by staff and were ready to enjoy the show.

But, shortly after, another Jane McDonald fan informed the pair they were in her seats.

Denise said: “This woman came up and approached me and hit my shoulder. The place was all filling up. She said, ‘you’re sitting in our seats’, and I said ‘no, the duty manager said these are the seats we’ve to sit in’.

“She told me no, so I said, ‘you’ll need to go find somebody because I can’t get my mum back up if it gets dark’.

“So, the next thing, this woman starts shouting and bawling in the middle of the hall. Everybody’s all turning around and looking at us. It was so humiliating.

“Eventually, the duty manager came up to us and went ‘I'm really sorry, but you need to get your mum up because I put you in the wrong seats’.

“You can imagine the state my mum was in.”

Glasgow Times: Newsquest
Glasgow Times: Newsquest

Newsquest

Glasgow Life, which runs the hall, said Denise and her mum were moved a few metres away into the reallocated seats they should have been put into.

Denise added: “My mum couldn’t get in that seat. She had to sit with her leg right up in the air for an hour and a half during the full performance.

“She can’t bend one of her knees because the replacement knee doesn’t bend.

“I said ‘my mum can’t sit for an hour and a half with her leg in the air’. It was causing a fire hazard because people were trying to get by, and my mum couldn’t get up.

“And the next thing, all this drink came down on top of us because people were going in and out to the bar, so we were soaking as well.

“I was so angry. People kept going ‘she can’t sit like that’. We couldn’t even hear what the concert was about. I don’t even know what was happening because I was that concerned about my mum. It was absolutely humiliating.

“At one point, Jane McDonald was wondering what the commotion was and asked if everyone was alright. I’ve actually written to Jane McDonald to let her know exactly what the situation was.

“It was an absolutely horrific night to make things worse. The rain couldn’t come down any heavier and I had to trail my mum home in that weather on two buses.

“We did have normal tickets because it was my dad that was supposed to be going. But that was the reason why I went in with my mum on the Saturday morning to get the seating arrangements sorted out.

“I took her to the hairdressers and got her hair done and everything.”

Glasgow Times:
Glasgow Times:

A Glasgow Life spokesperson said: “On the day of the sell-out Jane McDonald show, to meet this customer’s request for alternative seats from those she had originally purchased, our team at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall were able to offer her two seats more suited to someone with mobility difficulties.

“Staff explained that these seats would be adjacent to one of the doors into the auditorium, and the customer accepted this solution.

“When she and her mother arrived for the concert, they were incorrectly shown into different aisle seats next to one another, a few metres away from the reallocated ones.

“As soon as staff realised this, and whilst the house lights were still up before the start of the show, our duty manager guided both women to their correct seats and apologised for the inconvenience.”