A man barred from booking a christening party for his baby daughter at a Conservative club because of his Irish Traveller heritage has been awarded compensation after bringing a claim for racial discrimination.
The claimant, who wishes to remain anonymous, took legal action after being told by a staff member at Park Conservative club in Cardiff that Irish Travellers were banned from hosting parties there because of concerns about behaviour.
When the claimant suggested to the staff member that it was unfair to ban an entire ethnic group on this basis, he was told the club board had voted to exclude all Irish Traveller clients because of past instances of drug-taking, abuse of staff and damage to fittings.
According to the legal action letter, which included extracts from a phone conversation recorded by the claimant, he asked: “Just to double check, the board said we can’t have parties because we are Travellers?” The staff member replied: “Yeah.”
When the claimant said this was not fair, the staff member replied: “We are not stupid, let’s be open about it, OK we know the coke that goes on in the toilets, the men are constantly chewing gum and they are spitting it out and it’s ingrained in all the carpets in the club.”
When the man suggested that if someone from a different ethnicity came in and caused trouble the club would not have banned them the staff member agreed, saying: “I totally agree with you, you know it’s like saying one black man comes in here, caused trouble, all black men are banned.”
The claimant replied: “No, that wouldn’t happen, but why is the board saying that it is OK to ban every Traveller based on the actions of a few individuals?” He accepted an offer from the staff member to set up a meeting with the club secretary to argue his case but said the club subsequently did not contact him.
The claimant said after his attempt to book a function room at the club in March 2022 was rebuffed he had to hold the christening party at a different venue two months later at an additional cost of £1,480.
The father said: “To be told we were banned from booking this venue to celebrate my daughter’s christening just because we are Irish Travellers was deeply upsetting for our family. It’s not right that people like me are treated so unfairly, often on a daily basis. I hope by bringing this case we can help bring this type of discrimination to an end so our community can enjoy the same rights as everyone else.”
Park Conservative club agreed to pay the man and his daughter compensation, and five staff and club officials agreed to undergo cultural awareness training in order to settle the case out of court. There was no admission of liability by the club.
A spokesperson for the club said it was “sincerely apologetic” for the incident. It said there had been confusion in the club at the time about its policy towards Travellers and a mistake had been made. It has since hosted parties for Traveller families.
The case was funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) through its Race Legal Support fund which finances race discrimination cases brought by victims of injustice who would normally struggle to access legal support.
Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the EHRC, said: “No one should be discriminated against because of who they are, and members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities can often face harassment and discrimination due to negative stereotypes and deeply ingrained prejudices.”
Kate Egerton, a solicitor at the law firm Leigh Day, which brought the case, said: “Unfortunately, many Irish Travellers continue to encounter persistent race discrimination. Staff at Park Conservative club openly admitted it had banned Irish Travellers from holding events at the venue. Their actions displayed both commonly held prejudice and negative stereotypes, which are unfair and discriminatory.”
