A GROUP of visually impaired bowlers were left shocked when they were asked to leave because they were “taking too long”.

The Somerset Visually Impaired Bowling Club book a lane each week at Hollywood Bowl in Taunton and once a fortnight play in the British Blind Sport League.

It was during one of their league games last week (February 19) that they were asked to leave and play their game another day because they were taking too long.

The group said they couldn’t believe it but refused to leave and carried on bowling. Heidi Linegar, one of the players, said she was really disappointed with Hollywood Bowl.

She added: “We’ve been playing here for years and some weeks there’s no-one else using any of the lanes while the group is there.

“We appreciated more income is made by larger groups but we have just as much entitlement to be there as anyone else.

“I was so shocked and disappointed. We know half-term is busy but we had booked the lane and our sighted coach told us we were not taking any longer than anyone else. “We feel discriminated against because of our disability.”

A spokesperson for Hollywood Bowl said: “We would like to apologise if we have offended any members of the Somerset Visually Impaired Bowlers Club.

“We’ve always had a very good relationship with the club and its coach and we hope that continues for many years to come.

“Games over-running can occasionally present a challenge for a bowling centre at very busy times like halfterm and, in those situations, we may ask a group to set a time limit for their game.

“This happened on more than one occasion over half-term, not just to the Somerset VIB club.

“However, in this case, due to the good relationship we have with the club, instead of just asking them to limit the time of the game, we also offered them the option of three free games at a future time convenient to them, if they were willing to finish their game early.

“However, they chose to finish their games on the day as planned and we were very happy to let them do that.

“We are genuinely sorry if our offer has caused offence, our intention was quite the opposite.”

They added that they are contacting the group to extend their offer of complimentary bowling for whenever they would like.