Moray Council is being urged to change its policy to prevent a repeat of a blunder over wheelchair access at a ceremony to honour disabled people.
Local authority chiefs were left red-faced when volunteers who were being recognised for their work discovered the only way to reach the venue was up a flight of stairs.
The five women had to receive their awards in a “freezing” back room at Elgin City FC Borough Briggs stadium.
Seventy-five others were presented with their prizes in the main social club a floor above them.
Now the council is being urged to only use venues with disabled access.
The proposal will be tabled at tomorrow’s full meeting of the local authority by Fochabers Lhanbryde member Sean Morton.
He described the treatment of the disabled women at the awards event earlier this summer as “abysmal”.
He said last night: “This idea started off due to some fairly acrimonious circumstances, and lots of things were said going back and forth.
“But I think everyone agrees this is a fair motion, and I hope this draws a line under things.
“This is just serving to bring attention to things that Moray Council should already be doing.”
Councillor Morton has also asked that the women who were excluded from the ceremony in June are invited to receive their awards at an upcoming council event.
He added: “These women should be honoured in front of people – what happened in June was unfair.”
Moray Council convener Allan Wright, who presented the women with their certificates, conceded at the time that the venue was “not ideal”.
Mr Morton added: “Some people may want Allan Wright to make a public apology for what the women went through, but I don’t think it’s my place to force him into that.
“It’s up to him if he wants to make that apology himself.”
Last night, Mr Wright insisted no public apology would be made, but he offered the volunteers the chance to receive their awards at a future Moray Council prize giving ceremony.
He said: “There is no public apology, but the awards can be presented at the next ceremony we have, if that is what the ladies want.
“I will certainly support Mr Morton’s motion, I understand every major political party in Scotland has signed up to One in Five, along with a few councils.”
The One in Five campaign – which recognises that one in five people of working age in Scotland are disabled – calls on organisations to operate by a set of rules designed to make society and politics more welcoming towards people with disabilities.
The council will be asked to ensure meetings are held in accessible venues, that material is available in a variety of formats and that efforts are made to increase awareness and understanding of issues affecting disabled people.
Moray Duo chairwoman, Sylvia Stobbart, who was left “embarrassed” by June’s events, said she planned to attend tomorrow’s council meeting.
The 60-year-old said: “I’ll be attending Wednesday’s meeting just to see how the discussions go, along with a few of the others who were involved with things at the awards ceremony.
“We’re very interested to see what the councillors have to say.”
Elgin City North SNP councillor Patsy Gowans has agreed to second Labour member Mr Morton’s motion, meaning it has cross-party support and it is expected to be backed by a majority vote.