A BOWLING chain has apologised to women refused entry by security staff at its Oxford premises because they were travellers.

As revealed by the Oxford Mail today, Bowlplex started an internal probe after an exchange between the women and two contracted door staff on Friday night was captured on video.

Irish traveller Roseanne Gallagher, 22, and friends had planned to celebrate a birthday in the Ozone Leisure Park venue, next to Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium.

But the group was left “humiliated” after being told they weren’t allowed in because they were travellers.

Today the bowling chain said in a statement: “The safety and well being of our customers is our number one priority, and as with all responsible licensed premises our security teams are trained to recognise signals of concern.

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“The security staff at the Oxford bowl identified some individuals that were connected to a previous incident on the premises, and to ensure the safety of other customers they were asked to leave.

“During that process one of the security staff involved made claims regarding Bowlplex company policy – these were completely incorrect and are now the subject of a full investigation by the third party company that are contracted to provide these team members.

“Bowlplex would like to apologise unreservedly to anyone that has been caused offence by these comments and re-iterate that no such policy exists.”

Read the original story about the women being turned away from Bowlplex here

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