A DISABLED youngster who is passionate about science was upset after being told he could not attend his local cinema to see the new Stephen Hawking movie because the screen was not wheelchair accessible.

Joe France, 12, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, who suffers from cerebral palsy, had been looking forward to seeing The Theory of Everything because famous physicist Hawking, who also uses a wheelchair, is an inspiration to him.

Joe’s mum, Kelly Jones, said she had planned to take him to Harrogate’s Odeon Cinema on Saturday, January 17 – which was also National Disabled Access Day – but was told the film was being screened in a theatre without disabled access.

She said: “It was ironic as it was National Disabled Access Day, and we were going to see a film about the most famous disabled person in the world, but they had no wheelchair access.

“Joe was just left confused by the whole thing, he didn’t understand why they couldn't just show it in another screen. He said to me, ‘The film is supposed to inspire people but how can someone in a wheelchair be inspired if they can’t see it?’”

Ms Jones said staff at the cinema were very polite – but she thought more could have been done to help her son watch the film.

Joe said: “I felt a bit disappointed really, I was looking forward to seeing the film, Stephen Hawking is one of my top three heroes.

“I am very interested in time, space, physics and black hole theory. I would like to study sciences at college and maybe be an astronomer, or a geography or science teacher."

Jason Stanton, head of guest experience at Odeon, said: “Odeon Harrogate is inside a listed building, so we are unfortunately unable to change its layout to add wheelchair access to the two screens that currently don't have it.

“We therefore try to rotate weekly the films we show in the three screens that do have access for people with disabilities, to ensure a full range of films is available.

“The Theory of Everything was shown in a screen with wheelchair access during the week of January 9 to 15 and we'll be showing it again in a wheelchair-accessible screen for another week from this Friday, January 23."

A spokesperson for Disabled Access Day said: “This shows that while there has been much progress, there is still a great deal that needs to be done in the area of accessibility and illustrates how important it is to so many people's lives. Often access is about exploring creative solutions and greater understanding.”