Peterhead Prison Museum

Hello everyone, As a solo traveller, using an electric wheelchair, I had checked the accessibility statement for the museum. I was genuinely very upset, after making a considerable effort to get there, to be told I would not be allowed to access further than the shop. Such a major limitation was not clear on the website. The only way I could be allowed in was if I used the museum’s own manual wheelchair with a carer. I was told it was an insurance matter. Further to what I had read It turns out that there is more info under a different accessibility equipment heading. In this information was a photo of my exact model within the main museum. I cannot in all good conscience score the museum anything other than the lowest score, AND warn any potential visitors. I really am sorry to be writing such a negative review, but the experience left me precariously close to tears!

When we arrived at the museum I saw that there were only 3 disabled parking spaces and we couldn't get through the normal route to the entrance due to a massive curb - nevertheless, we arrived at the entrance on a freezing cold day in Peterhead! When we got to the entrance we were greeted by the receptionist who informed me that unfortunately due to the number of steep ramps, my mobility scooter would not manage to go round the prison so offered me a wheelchair. While this was obviously disappointing news - something which they never disclosed to me on their website or on social media, I was still rather excited to go, so quickly decided that I would just take the wheelchair. It was me, my dad and my 2 brothers who went, which made me think if only me, my dad and one of my brothers went, which was originally planned how would my dad manage to push us both? We would have needed to go home which would have been very disappointing. Then the receptionist came through with the wheelchair and said it was the only wheelchair that they had, which could definitely prove a problem. The wheelchair that they gave me was absolutely awful and I would feel sorry for any wheelchair user who had to use this, the wheelchair had two flat tires, the footrests were only about an inch off the ground and the footplates were facing the opposite directions. To put the cherry on top of the cake, the receptionist said it was a new wheelchair - if I was them, I would be asking for a refund. We then went through to the shop area to pay for our tour, the carers got in for free and we were then told that we would be guided a different route. You were given headphones as part of the audio-guided tour which was very useful for my partially sighted brother. The audio tour was extremely interesting and thought-provoking. We then used a lift to get to the cafe and the second floor of the hospital. The lift was only big enough for one wheelchair at a time so we had to go up separately and you had to keep pressing the button until you reached the top. The cafe was quite tight and very busy so we never went, but overall a good day out.

We visited as part of a holiday in Aberdeen. Any worries we had about how we would cope were quickly resolved by staff at entrance. Our arrival was communicated to the ticket office and we were left to get lunch before our visit and when we got to ticket office one member of staff took us to wheelchair accessible areas of the prison when we could not follow normal route. He left us to do our own thing and returned to meet us during the visit to guide us where necessary