The majority of the FTSE-100 companies have web sites that fall foul of disability regulations. Nomensa, a web site accessibility consultancy, says only 37 had web sites that conform to accessibility guidelines laid down by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

But that number had at least risen from the 26 FTSE-100 companies that complied with disability regulations when Nomensa conducted a similar survey in 2003.

Companies that do not ensure web site accessibility for disabled users could face legal action in the UK under the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. Section 19 makes it unlawful to discriminate against a disabled person.

These concerns have also been voiced by the Disability Rights Commission, which has claimed it is “only a matter of time” before disabled users start actively taking legal action against non-conforming companies. “Time is perhaps running out for those companies that persistently fail to heed the growing voice of the disabled communities,” warns the Nomensa report.

The most common problems, the survey found, are the absence of alternate text facilities, insufficient scalability, inadequate page titles and poor links.