The Disability Discrimination Act, which comes fully into force from October next year, says that companies must make reasonable adjustments to ensure their buildings are accessible to disabled people.

The legislation aims to give disabled people better access to goods and services.

However, at a Capability Scotland meeting in Dundee recently, it was argued that companies in Scotland are totally unprepared for new rules on disabled access.

Business leaders have broadly welcomed the legislation, but warned smaller businesses may be hit and costs passed on to customers.

Speaking to The Evening Telegraph today, however, John Downie, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, said it was important for small companies not to panic and begin fearing the worst about the cost of providing disabled facilities.

“It is difficult to judge the impact of this legislation,” he said. “The new rules state that businesses must make reasonable adjustment to their premises to provide disabled access. The words ‘reasonable adjustment’ are very subjective and open to interpretation, but it is worth remembering that, out of the eight million people classified as disabled in the UK, only 5% of them are in wheelchairs.

“There has been some panic about, for example, the cost of installing wheelchair ramps but, rather than worrying about the high price of adapting the business, it would be better to focus on the benefits such alterations would give all the customers. Disabled people contribute billions of pounds to the economy every year and by updating premises to incorporate disabled access, small businesses will in fact be opening the door for more trade, which of course, benefits everyone.”

Mr Downie also said many small businesses already had some form of disabled access and the new laws would have little effect on the day-to-day running of companies. “I am aware of the figures compiled by Capability Scotland which show that 40% of independent retailers have no form of disabled access. However, to me what is more important is that 60% of independent retailers do have disabled access.