Restaurants among worst offenders for turning away guide dogs

Some restaurants are illegally turning away blind people as they mistakenly try to ban guide dogs from their premises.

A new study by charity Guide Dogs found there was a lack of awareness of legislation passed three years ago which aims to ensure disabled people have the same right to services as everyone else.

The charity said complaints about the issue had "rocketed" in the last few months and were up by more than a third on last year.

Among the worst offenders were restaurants, public transport and taxis.

The charity's chief executive, Richard Leaman, said: "More awareness is needed to avoid blind and partially sighted people having to cope with this stress and discrimination in their daily lives.

"Although business owners are often eager to comply when we speak to them, our report shows that the situation is very different on the ground."

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) says business owners must make "reasonable adjustments" to make their premises' accessible to disabled people, such as waiving a no dogs policy for assistance dogs.