A disabled bingo fan told today how he was frogmarched out of a gaming hall by two police officers – for WOLF-WHISTLING when the caller shouted out ‘Leg’s 11’.
Gerard Merry, 47, made the cheeky gesture as he played at his local bingo hall but was given the boot when managers branded him “sexist”.
When he refused to leave, the next numbers staff called were 999 and he was escorted from the building by two burly officers from West Midlands Police.
Gerard, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was left stunned when he was banned from returning to BJ’s Bingo Hall in Kitts Green, Birmingham after the row on February 17.
He fumed: “Everyone whistles when number 11 comes out, I was just having a bit of banter. I don’t know why they (the management) singled me out.
“To start with, they said it’s a private club and they didn’t have to give a reason for barring me.
“To be honest, I did argue and refuse to leave, which was wrong, but I was exasperated. I did get a bit upset, I certainly wasn’t aggressive.
“My face just didn’t fit, there was a minority of people in there who seemed to be prejudiced against me from the moment I arrived.
“On the day it was quite weird. I whistled at the call for ‘Legs 11’ with other people, and the caller actually came over to me and shouted at me to stop whistling saying it was sexist.
“I thought nothing of that and was waiting for one final number to get a full house.
“When I didn’t get it I said ‘stuff it’ in jest, it was a joke.
“I was told by someone in management that I had been rude and said a bad word to a female staff member.
“I was with a witness, a friend from the church, and she can back up that I never did that.
“I argued a bit but I was never aggressive.
“The next thing I knew, two police officers were walking towards me and they got hold of each arm and frogmarched me out of the building.
“The officers told me I shouldn’t go back inside so I just went home.
“I was shocked, I’ve never caused any trouble in my life. I just wanted to play bingo and have a bit of fun with my friends.
“Now I feel like my self-confidence has been hit, I feel everyone in the world should need a good reason to think someone else is bad and I don’t think I have done anything.
“It’s all I’ve got at the present time. I don’t drink and I don’t like pubs. I’ve nowhere else to go.”
A spokesman for BJ’s refused to comment on the ban saying: “We have no comment to make. This is an internal matter.”
But one club insider admitted there had been complaints about Gerard’s raucous response to the call and general loud behaviour.
He stressed that despite calling police there was no suggestion Gerard was violent.
In 2012 David Cameron came under fire after it emerged the Government were planning to out-law wolf-whistling.
