Angharad Paget-Jones says she overheard staff saying she was pretending to be blind (Pictures: PA)
A blind woman claims she was forced to leave a Premier Inn because staff did not think she ‘looked blind’ or that her golden retriever was a real guide dog.
Angharad Paget-Jones, 29, said she was forced to leave the hotel in Enfield for breaching their no-pets policy, despite the exception for assistance dogs.
She said her boyfriend took Tudor for a walk at around 10pm on November 5, when staff at reception asked for proof he was an assistance dog.
The disability rights campaigner, from Port Talbot in Wales, added: ‘He pointed to the Guide Dogs leads and the tag he wears on his collar, but was asked for documentation.
‘My boyfriend said I was asleep and I would bring them the documents in the morning and not long after that, there was a knock on the door, which woke me up.’
She described having to use the door to ‘cover her modesty’ and being asked to provide ‘documents that just don’t exist for a guide dog’ by people who never identified themselves to her.
Ms Paget-Jones responded by asking for the manager and closed the door but was later made to leave the hotel because staff said her closing the door was aggressive.
Angharad Paget-Jones with her assistance dog Tudor (Picture: PA)
Staff also said the Assistance Dogs UK ID shown to identify Tudor as being a guide dog was something that ‘could be bought by anyone on the internet’. Ms Paget-Jones disputed that.
She said: ‘As we were going to the lift, you could hear (staff) saying, “She’s pretending that’s a guide dog, she doesn’t even look blind”.’
Ms Paget-Jones said that being left to wait in the cold on Bonfire Night also had a negative impact on Tudor, which does not like fireworks.
‘And they made me vulnerable as I am disabled and had to wait in the cold,’ she added.
Ms Paget-Jones, who recently fronted Guide Dogs’ Open Doors campaign which hopes to bring an end to access refusals, is in the process of taking legal action against the company.
Ms Paget-Jones claims she was forced to leave a Premier Inn hotel because staff did not think she ‘looked blind’ or that her golden retriever was an assistance dog (Picture: PA)
A spokesperson from Premier Inn said: ‘At Premier Inn we take the needs and equal treatment of all our guests extremely seriously and all team members receive disability awareness training to make sure our guests all get the same warm welcome and enjoy a great stay.
‘We were shocked and appalled to see the upsetting Twitter thread alleging that a guest was asked to leave one of our hotels in Enfield.
‘An urgent investigation is already underway with that site to find out exactly what’s happened and we’ve reached out to the Twitter user to fully understand the circumstances of what has taken place and apologise for the upset caused.’
Blanche Shackleton, head of policy, public affairs and campaigns at Guide Dogs, said: ‘Guide dog owners deserve to be able to live their lives the way they want and feel confident, independent, and supported in the world.
‘The law is clear, and yet guide dog owners continue to experience access refusals, which are almost always illegal.
‘We are deeply concerned to hear Angharad’s account of her experience.’
A petition which has close to 10,000 signatures and encourages businesses to have “open doors” for guide dogs has been created by the charity here.
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‘She’s pretending that’s a guide dog, she doesn’t even look blind.’
