AN eight-year-old girl, victim of a car crash, was left devastated when refused entry to a Cinema because of her wheelchair.

But cinema bosses have explained their error and promised to make it up to the youngster.

Rebekah Newton, of Monk Street, Accrington, was involved in a road accident in nearby Blackburn Road in January and spent nine weeks in hospital with a badly-broken thigh bone.

After she was allowed home her parents decided to take her to see Monsters Inc at Blackburn's Apollo Cinema to cheer her up and phoned in advance to check her chair could be accommodated.

Her father, Andrew Newton, 28, said he twice called staff at the King William Street cinema twice to make sure everything was wheelchair friendly and was told there was disabled access including ramps and room for a wheelchair user to watch the film.

But when the family arrived -- Rebekah, her dad, mum Jayne, 25, and brothers Andrew, seven, and Jordan, five --they were turned away.

Jean Sweeney, Rebekah's grandmother, also of Monk Street, said: "It was traumatic for her to be stuck in hospital for nine weeks and she was getting really fed up because she was missing her friends from school.

"She was really geared up to go to the cinema but when they were told there was nowhere to put the wheelchair she was devastated and went home in tears.

"There are lots of children who use wheelchairs because of illness or injuries and I wonder how many more they have turned away."

Nick McKiernan, divisional manager for Apollo, said: "It seems the family were given the information for the wrong site. The Burnley site was built from scratch and designed to accommodate disabled users and it is all on one level. The problem at Blackburn is that it is an old building and cannot be adapted.

"It is a shame that the staff could not accommodate the family at Blackburn but that is because of the design of the building. We will happily give them free tickets and the Burnley division will accommodate and look after them."

He denied that disabled people were banned from Blackburn Apollo, and said the company was happy to allow family or friends to carry someone in a wheelchair into the auditorium if it were physically possible.

The family are now arranging another excursion to see the children's film.

Ruth Scott, campaigns officer for Scope, the charity which helps thousands of wheelchair-users who suffer from cerebral palsy, said: "Many disabled people are still denied access to services that non-disabled take for granted.

"Poor access, negative attitudes and a lack of awareness can often make ordinary activities like going to the cinema more difficult, time-consuming and stressful for a disabled person."