Chorley man sees the light thanks to local firm (From Chorley Citizen)

Chorley man sees the light thanks to local firm

8:00am Sunday 10th March 2013 in Chorley

A blind man has thanked a Chorley firm and recommended them to other partially sighted people after a humorous clothing mix-up led to an innovative solution.

Colin Farmer, 61, hit the headlines wordwide last year when he was mistakenly tasered by a police officer who mistook his white stick for a samurai sword.

Mr Farmer recently visited garment alterations shop All Sewn Up in Market Street complaining he was having trouble opening and closing the zip on his waterproof jacket.

He said: “I couldn’t get it fastened for the life of me so I took it to the shop.

“When they had a look at it, there was actually nothing wrong with the zip, the issue was, funnily enough, that my jacket was inside out. After having a good laugh about it, Andy Lewis at the shop looked at what he could do to help me recognise when the jacket was the correct way round.”

Andy said: “We decided as Colin was only partially sighted, he could distinguish bright colours so we fitted hi-visibility material around the arm-holes on the inside of his jacket.”

Colin, who has begun legal proceedings against Lancashire Constabulary for the Taser incident, has been in touch with the Blind Association and explained the help All Sewn Up gave him.

Colin added: “I think this has the potential to help many other partially sighted people in and around the Chorley area. It’s a simple solution and means I won’t be wearing my clothes inside out in future.”