A customer complaint has led a McDonald's on P.E.I. to make its washroom more wheelchair accessible, despite its already meeting national building codes.
Despite meeting that standard, the washroom was too small for Greg McManus. McManus and his coffee club started meeting every morning at the McDonald's in Summerside a few months ago.
"There's about 12 of us, I come here and see my friends, the people here are great," he said.
But while he enjoyed meeting with friends, there was a problem if McManus had to use the washroom. McManus is in a motorized wheel, and the national building code standards are for the smaller, manual chairs.
It's nearly impossible for McManus to maneuver in his larger chair without the help of a friend. The friend will hold the door open as McManus tries to get his chair through and then make a 90-degree turn. He hits the wall several times.
The chair only fits halfway into the stall. When it's time to leave, there's barely enough room to turn his chair around.
"It makes me feel like a child again," he said.
McManus called the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities. It said the national building codes are a minimum standard. It suggested McDonald's follow the Canadian Standards association guidelines, which would make it accessible for all wheelchairs.
Mike McKenna, the supervisor for McDonald's on P.E.I., said the restaurant is now doing that.
"We want to make sure we go the extra mile," said McKenna.
"We want to thank Mr. McManus for bringing this to our attention, because without him telling us, we would never know."
Renovations at the restaurant are already underway.
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