Oh, Here We Are Again!

The incident happened after Marina Bradbury, aged 31, of Glascote Heath, entered Crossfell Stores with her two-year old black Labrador/Retriever cross Spyder.

Marina, who has retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye disease, said she was told to leave the shop by store owner Albert Lalli.

Yup, it’s one of those, albeit without a ‘Religion of Peace’ aspect, seemingly.

"I explained to him that Spyder was a guide dog and by law I was allowed to have her in the shop with me. But he continued to ask me to leave. "I was annoyed and felt embarrassed, so walked out."

And what does the shopkeeper have to say for himself?

Well, denial that any such discussion took place. And ignorance of the law is always a good ploy, don’t you think?

When approached by the Herald, Mr Lalli said: "When I asked her to leave the store, she didn't say anything to me and left straight away. If she was upset by this, I would have spoken to her.

"I was concerned that the dog would lick the fresh fruit and veg.

"I hadn't seen a guide dog in our shop before this. I felt I wasn't doing anything wrong."

Of course you hadn’t! Of course you didn’t!

But after being informed of laws that allow owners of guide dogs to enter shops with their animals, Mr Lalli said he wasn't aware of these rules and would allow Mrs Bradbury and Spyder back in to his store.

He added: "As long as the dog is responsible, they are welcome back."

No, you still don’t quite get it, do you – they are allowed back by law whatever you think of the dog…

Colin Elliot, mobility team manager for the Guide Dogs charity, said he would contact Mr Lalli. He said: "The Equality Act 2010 makes it illegal to deny access to a guide dog owner."

Colin, you’d do better to pop along to the council’s health and safety and trading standards departments and tell they that there’s a store that’s ignorant of the law on this, so might well be ignorant of the laws on a whole stack of other things, too.

When it starts to affect these people financially, they might start to actually pay some attention to the law.