Veteran alleges he was refused service because of his wheelchair
A war veteran has claimed he was refused service at a suburban restaurant because of his wheelchair.
Joel Sardi, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, became a quadriplegic when he fell three metres onto his back almost seven years ago.
Mr Sardi said his attempt to make a reservation at Ginger Garlic in Eltham, Victoria, on Saturday night was refused due to the space he and his wheelchair would take up, despite having visited the venue many times before.
“He was quite aggressively telling ‘you don’t know anything about the restaurant and you won’t fit in there because there’s sizzling hot plates and you take up too much space,” Mr Sardi told 7NEWS.
“Last night was the worst I’ve ever felt because of my injury. I was infuriated.”
Mr Sardi, who is a public speaker, shared his story about the incident in a video posted to Instagram.
His post received hundreds of thousands of views, as well as messages from others sharing their sympathy.
Mr Sardi is considering lodging an official complaint with the Human Rights Commission.
But he has warned against those showing criticism down on the restaurant, and has said: “I don’t want to see people suffer from this. I want people to learn from it.”
Ginger Garlic declined to comment.
Image: 7NEWS