Elderly lady left feeling depressed after being banned from bingo hall for swearing at staff

An elderly woman has been banned from her beloved bingo hall for three months for swearing at staff in a row over a Christmas meal. Teresa Plummer went to Crown Bingo in Portsmouth, Hampshire, regularly and says it was her only social outlet. The ban came after a meal where the 77-year-old was disappointed with the food. Teresa, who has been a member of the bingo hall for 28 years, directed her anger at the staff, using bad language to express her emotions, and now she has been banned.

Now, her daughter Jackie Ball is concerned that her mum, who suffers from arthritis, will become isolated and will no longer have a reason to leave the house. Jackie contacted the club and asked if it would consider reducing the ban, but bosses refused to back down. Teresa said: “I swore, which I shouldn’t have done. I went in on the Saturday morning and the bloke at the front desk said ‘I’m sorry Teresa, you’re barred’. I depend on it a lot. I go every single day. I feel very depressed. Bingo is my life.



“It’s been my life for the last 28 years. I’m sitting here all day on my own. I don’t see a soul from one day to the next.” Jackie, 54, from Copnor, said: “My mum lives on her own. It’s going to have a detrimental effect on her wellbeing and her mobility. This is her lifeline and her only social outlet. She shouldn’t have used bad language and she should apologise for that but I think they are being overzealous. She won’t get out of bed now because she’s got nothing to get up for. She’s got arthritis. When she goes to bingo she is keeping herself mobile.

“I can’t believe that, in this current climate when there is a campaign going on about how we have got to look after the elderly, Crown Bingo has turned its back on her.” Gary Bell is the general manager of Crown Bingo. He said: “For something like this, our normal ban is six months for someone being abusive towards our staff. We have a duty of care towards our staff. I understand that she is an elderly lady and that coming to bingo is her only social outlet but we do have other customers we don’t want them to hear people shouting and swearing. We have to make a stand. We don’t allow our staff to be treated like that.”