A disabled man is angry at a Croydon restaurant for its "dangerous" steps.

David Ellis, who is wheelchair bound, suffered a "pretty nasty" fall while trying to negotiate a step at the Coombe Lodge Beefeater in November last year.

As a result of the fall, Mr Ellis, who was living in the Premier Inn next door at the time due to water damage in his home, spent 11 days in hospital, after which he was forced to wear a hard collar for a further six weeks leaving him unable to leave his hotel room.

But he believes it could have been prevented.

Six months prior he fell victim to another incident which resulted in the restaurant putting in place a temporary aluminium ramp.

Mr Ellis said this wasn't enough.

He thinks that a permanent solution should have made by Whitbread (the company in charge of Beefeater) when the restaurant underwent its refurbishment in October, which Mr Ellis said would have prevented the second fall.

"This is what Whitbread states is easy access for disabled wheelchair users," he said angrily about the steps.

"No changes were ever made to assist disabled wheelchair users with access the restaurant itself and staff regularly struggle to assist patrons.

"An accident is an accident, and this one was preventable.

"I believe Whitbread are putting profit before a disabled customers needs."

Mr Ellis has since moved out of the Premier Inn and back into his home, but continues to fight until something is done to cater more to those in wheelchairs.

"The external ramps are hard to negotiate for a disabled wheelchair user on their own," he said.

"There are no bells outside to offer assistance, and the bell inside is away from direct view as well.

"I stopped using my electric wheelchair because I couldn’t get in during my stay."

A spokesman for Whitbread said that because the Beefeater was a listed building, it was hard to accommodate proposed alterations.

"We always listen to guest feedback and take matters of this nature very seriously so we’ve been liaising with the guest directly to explain that Coombe Lodge is a Listed Building which means there is a limit to any alterations we can make, and also to reassure that a member of our safety team has re-visited the restaurant in person in light of his complaint," he said.

"We welcome tens of thousands of people to Coombe Lodge every year and whilst we haven’t received any other complaints of this nature, we would encourage any customers who require help to enter the building to ring the bell outside the entrance – our team are only too happy to help. We do hope to welcome Mr Ellis back soon."