Blind woman films Coventry restaurant's unlawful guide dog ban - The Coventry Observer

Blind woman films Coventry restaurant's unlawful guide dog ban

Coventry Editorial 24th Feb, 2016 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

A WOMAN who is registered blind filmed a Coventry restaurant as they unlawfully told her she could not come in with her guide dog.

The PGR restaurant in Coventry has apologised and said it was unaware of the law after Holly Scott-Gardner videoed and posted the unfortunate exchange online.

The restaurant said it was unaware that the law prevents eateries and other establishments from banning dogs if the animal is a registered working guide dog.

The video posted by the 22-year-old from Coventry went viral online.




Ms Scott-Gardner – a university student – had informed the restaurant in Priory Row, Coventry city centre, that it was unlawful in most circumstances to turn away a guide dog on disability discrimination grounds.

But her plea fell on deaf ears when she had visited the restaurant for her birthday with a friend on Monday.


She was told to leave her dog outside or eat outside, as the owner of the restaurant Majed Bahgozen, was called.

Mr Bahgozen took to Facebook to issue an apology.

It read: “We truly didn’t understand what guide dogs purposes were and for that we accept all the blame”.

Ms Scott-Gardner told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire: “It shows that they value their able customers more than their disabled ones.

“It really concerns me that businesses are not aware of the law, because if you’re not aware of discrimination laws, what other laws are businesses not aware of?”

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