THE spectre of civil court action and fines of anything from £3,500 to £167,000 is hanging over the North-East business community now that the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has become law.

And, according to a recent Natwest survey, anything up to two-thirds of the region's small businesses have not even thought about ensuring that their premises comply with health and safety regulations introduced on October 1.

Until this autumn, businesses with fewer than 15 employees were exempt. Now they are not, but a surprising 62 per cent of even the smaller traders believe they are up-to-date with the rules.

The basic rule of thumb is that any business allowing customers into a building must ensure that disabled customers have the same level of access as able-bodied customers or at least come to a workable compromise with an offer of service.

The Government-backed Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has spent the past year targeting the business community and local authorities with a campaign called Open4All to encourage them to upgrade service areas.

From this month, disabled people are being issued with a DDA poster card, which they can hand to potentially law-breaking firms with the commission prepared to financially support legal action if conciliation fails.

In the four years since the EU cracked down on the unfair treatment of disabled people in the workplace, about 6,000 complaints have been settled by DRC's conciliation service, but several hundred have gone through the courts. On these occasions, damages were awarded to a disabled person as compensation for injury to their feelings.

Senior DRC press officer Will Dingli said: "A lot of large organisations have done something because they tend to refur- bish more and plan ahead because they have a number of outlets.

They also have more cash. These have tended to be supermarkets, pub chains and restaurants.

"In terms of independent outlets, that's where the picture is a mixed one.

"We will be encouraging disabled people to take action when there is a service provider that's not doing anything.

"We would certainly be encouraging the disabled to assert their rights in these cases.

"We imagine there will be court cases in the next few months.

"With civil actions like this, there can be quite a lot of cash involved in terms of fines. We were quoting a figure last year of up to £50,000.

"Hearings are likely to be shops that have done nothing to conform to the DDA and don't intend to, or local authorities who run a variety of services in an area and are unwilling to make those services available to all."

Court cases in the past have centred on a guide dog owner being thrown out of a pub or someone with slow speech being ejected because they sounded drunk.

The average damages awarded so far is almost £10,000, according to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), with the maximum of £167,000 damages awarded in September 2000.

Shops, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, offices, theatres, cinemas and sports venues are all coming under scrutiny.

Action will be taken when a disabled person cannot gain access to a service that is available to an able-bodied person.

But there is recognition that small businesses, or even services such as a doctors' surgery on the second floor of an old building, will be allowed to find a "reasonable adjustment".

In the case of a doctor, it could mean making house calls instead of asking a patient to attend the surgery.

The DCA has been to Newcastle to assess what the business community has been doing to meet stronger DDA legislation and the feeling is that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

The organisation stresses that no rules are hard and fast because "each case varies because of budget, size and turnover. You can't expect the small corner shop to supply the same level of access as Sainsbury's".

A DWP spokesman said: "With a small corner shop, which hasn't got room to swing a cat, one thing they could do is to shop for the disabled person and bring the goods to the door or it might be moving a few boxes from an aisle to allow them access."

Physical changes to premises may be as simple and low cost as changing the height of a door handle so that a wheelchair user can reach it or putting handrails on staircases.

Employment changes are also thought to be straightforward, such as allowing someone time off for treatment, providing work-related information in an accessible format such as large print, Braille or audio tape and holding interviews in an accessible location.

Maria Eagle, Minister for Disabled People, said: "For the first time, disabled workers will have the same rights at work regardless of the size of the company they work for.

"Employers need to ensure they don't discriminate against disabled employees or job applicants on grounds of disability and to consider making reasonable adjustments in the workplace."

She pointed out that with one in five UK people being classed as disabled, the spending power to service providers is estimated at about £50bn per year.