Vue Cinema can't do a thing about malicious youths

Mar 10 2008 By Web User

Going to the Vue Cinema in Hamilton has always been a competition between those of us who happily pay to WATCH and enjoy a movie and those youngsters who go solely for a 'carry-on' and cause nuisance.

We constantly have to put up with endless chatter, laughing, messing around, mobile phones, and lose the enjoyment of the movie uninterrupted.

On Saturday 8th March we went to watch 'Vantage Point' showing on Screen 1 at the 16:00 showing.  A group of youngsters were constantly chattering, rolling something around the floor which sounded like a small barrel amidst their chatter, and running around changing seats. 

Some other patron obviously reported these incidents, as a young member of the staff actually came into the auditorium, walked halfway across the screen area looked around for about 10 seconds and left.

As the film was finishing and going to credits I saw what I thought was a popcorn bucket airborne and fall just short of the screen. 

As we left the cinema, we then discover that this object was in fact a two litre 80% full plastic 'pop bottle' which had almost hit a young couple but did leave her wet.

They and we complained to the young lady at the entrance, who said there was nothing she could do, but eventually called the duty manager.

When informed of the complaint, his response was to apologise, and explain he could not be held responsible for the actions of unruly kids.  When challenged over the supervision of youngsters in the cinema his was response was that he had nine (9) screens and he could not supervise them all.  All he could do was apologise, and left.

The moral being that for future visits to Vue, patrons should not only be prepared to put up with unacceptable noise and bad behaviour, but provide their own 'Hard Hat' for defence against unidentified flying objects.

There are signs all over Vue informing that the management cannot accept responsiblility for damage or loss of personal items.  They should now post notices waiving responsibility for 'loss or damage' to human life.

Response

After reading this a Vue spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to our customers for any disruptions caused and would like to stress that this was an isolated incident.

"Our staff will always seek to remove individuals acting in an inappropriate manner from our cinema and when necessary, ban those individuals from future performances. 

"We take this matter extremely seriously and always work to provide a comfortable environment for all our guests to enjoy their movie”