Mr Blindman letter upsets blind man

A Hull man says he was "shocked" by a letter from council contractors addressing him as Mr Blindman. Paul Harris, of the Wincolmlee area, who was only registered blind late last year, received the letter from Kier Building Maintenance on Wednesday.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Mr Harris. "Words just can't explain how I feel, I'm really upset." The company apologised saying the error happened when Mr Harris's disability was mistakenly entered on its database.

The letter was sent to Mr Harris to inform him that modifications were to be carried out on his home as part of the Hull City Council's Decent Homes programme. "I was literally horrified that they can send anything through the post saying 'Dear Mr Blindman' about your disability," said Mr Harris. "I was just so shocked.



"You wouldn't send a letter to a person who's got Down's Syndrome saying Dear Mr Down's Syndrome would you?"

A Kier spokesperson said: "We sincerely apologise to Mr Harris for the distress caused by this error. The letter was part of a routine mail-out about Decent Homes work being carried out in his property.

"Any information relating to customers' personal circumstances are entered into a remarks column on a database. Unfortunately, information about Mr Harris' disability was accidentally entered into the name column, which was not noticed prior to the letter being sent."