A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND student fears his life has been put at risk after it was revealed a lecture theatre he had been using had not suitable escape route for him if there had been a fire.

Martin Bennett has a genetic condition called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) meaning his spine is fused and he permanently uses a motorised chair.

The 18-year-old began an electronic engineering course at Essex University in October and was asked to fill out a personal evacuation evaluation plan (PEEP) in the event of an emergency.

After promptly completing the form - which had areas of the campus which he should avoid listed because there were not safe routes out - Mr Bennett heard nothing from the university on the issue for a month until he was sent a reminder email saying he had not completed the plan.

He replied and re-sent the same form he had originally completed but received nothing back until Tuesday when the university's fire department eventually got back to him with their part of the plan.

However the list of places he should avoid had now been changed to include higher floors of the Lecture Theatre Building and the Ivor Crewe - both of which he had been attending on a regular basis for timetabled sessions.

Mr Bennett, who lives in Parson Heath, Colchester, said he was shocked and disturbed by the new information.

He said: "The worrying thing is I have been using the top floor of the Lecture Theatre Building at least once a week since the start of term as I have been timetabled a lecture in there.

"I have also been using the right upper part of the Ivor Crewe for the same reason.

"Has my life been put unnecessarily at risk by the university?"

Mr Bennett raised the issue with the fire department who said they were in the process of compiling a list of places which were safe for wheelchair users in the event of a blaze.

He added: "So, they still do not know which building are safe for me to access, so I must assume that none of them are.

"I informed the head of student support of my decision to not attend any lectures until I can be sure that I am safe, and her response was that she could not endorse my decision.

"I can only take this to mean that Essex places their attendance figures over the safety of their most vulnerable students.

"It has made me feel sick and worried about whether I am safe.

"I have a friend in a wheelchair at the university as well and I am worried about his safety."

A spokesman for the university said: “We’re sorry for the delay in dealing with this case and we are investigating the concerns being raised.

"We’ve just appointed a new full-time fire safety manager so requests of this kind will be dealt with more efficiently in the future.

"Most of our campus is fully accessible to standard wheelchairs, but in a small number of locations we would have to use specialist evacuation chairs in the case of a fire.

"Unfortunately these are not suitable for people with certain mobility issues so our individualised fire risk assessment means we have to advise individuals not to access some areas of our campus.

"In this case we would normally expect to make suitable arrangements to ensure the student’s educational experience is not disrupted.”