A disabled voter has secured a legal settlement after taking action against Kingston Council over access to polling stations.

Adam Lotun, who is deaf and uses a wheelchair, sued the council after not being able to cast his vote in the Sunray Community Centre in Tolworth in the 2014 local election.

He was unable to get his wheelchair into the building, which was built in 1974.

Mr Lotun said: “How can you call it a community centre? The only inference is that disabled people are not part of the community.”

“My equal right in society is to get to the polling station on polling day and cast my vote. But that was denied me.”

The council hired a QC to fight the case, which has since been settled out of court with Mr Lotun being due an undisclosed amount of money.

Mr Lotun has been campaigning for improved access for disabled people for years, and thinks there is vast room for improvement.

He said: “I'm getting fed up that people with disabilities are constantly being ignored and disregarded.

“We are seeing developments now, shops and facilities being opened, that are not accessible.

“Why is it that there are still buildings inaccessible to us? Things have got to change or the country's going to hell very quickly.”

Rather than simply focus on access for wheelchair users, he wants to make sure less visible disabilities are also accounted for.

He said: “Obviously because of the signage – the 'disability' sign is someone in a wheelchair – people think there only has to be a ramp.

“We have to make sure that there is accessibility across the board.”

A council spokeswoman said: “The Council is aware of its responsibilities under Equalities legislation and strives to ensure that buildings that it uses as Polling Places at elections are accessible to those with disabilities. To this end the Council will be reviewing access arrangements at all buildings currently used as Polling Places as part of the next Polling Place review.

“At the 2014 combined European and Council elections an issue regarding access arose at one of our Polling Places. This was resolved in time for the 2015 Parliamentary election.

“The Council is not aware that there were any complaints regarding access to Polling Places at the recent Parliamentary election.”

The Surrey Comet asked for further information about the accessibility audit, including the costs involved and whether it will include pan-disability access, but the council did not respond.