Access refusals and your rights

Access refusal is when a business or service provider doesn’t allow a person with a guide dog to enter their premises or challenges their right to do so. It can also mean the person is treated less favourably, or receives an inferior service, as a result of having their guide dog with them. By helping you to better understand your rights, we hope to empower you to challenge an access refusal.

Your rights as a guide dog owner

The Equality Act 2010 and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Northern Ireland) prohibit businesses and service providers from denying access to people with guide dogs. This includes restaurants, shops, and taxis.

The legislation also requires them to make reasonable adjustments so it’s easier to access their premises with a guide dog. For examples of reasonable adjustments, check out the “Helpful resources” section at the foot of this page – these documents include suggestions for industry-specific reasonable adjustments.

Travelling by air with a guide dog

Most airlines allow guide dogs to travel with their owners in the cabin of the plane. Airline operators are entitled to ask if your guide dog has been trained by an accredited organisation. Your Assistance Dog UK (ADUK) booklet should prove this but always check with the airline you’re travelling with. 

Your responsibilities as a guide dog owner

Like all dog owners, you have a duty of care to your dog and are responsible for them in public spaces. Ensuring your guide dog is acting appropriately for the space they’re in is a key responsibility, as is being considerate of things like dog hair and muddy paws. For example, if you’re travelling by taxi, you could consider bringing a towel or blanket for your guide dog to lay on as this will help minimise the dog hair left in the taxi after your journey and has the added benefit of helping your dog to settle.

Additionally, making sure your guide dog’s welfare needs are met is one of your main duties as an owner. For example, your guide dog might find noisy venues or long flights distressing, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to bring them to these environments. Each dog is different, and one of the best things you can do as a dog owner is respect your dog’s emotional needs.

Your Guide Dogs access card

Your Guide Dogs access card helps prove that your dog is a working guide dog. You can show this card to people who may be preventing your access to public places. The card reminds its reader that, by law, your dog has the right to enter most places open to the public.

To help with orientation, the card is designed so that the top right-hand corner is missing, and the words “Access card” are embossed in Braille on the front. Alternatively, a virtual version of the access card is available in the Guide Dogs app.

Where can’t a guide dog go?

Refusing access to a person with a guide dog is often illegal, but there are some areas that might carry restrictions. For example, you might not be able to take your guide dog into strictly sterile areas, such as intensive care units, surgical theatres in hospitals, or food preparation areas in restaurants. If you need to enter these areas, the service provider must ensure that your needs are met by offering a reasonable adjustment such as offering to watch your dog for you and providing sighted assistance.

If you’ve been refused access somewhere and you’re unsure if you have a right to enter, report it through the Guide Dogs app or Guide Line and a member of our Access Team will be in touch to discuss what happened.

The Guide Dogs app

If you face an access refusal or an inaccessible public space, you can report it through the Guide Dogs app or Guide Line. Our app includes:

• A virtual version of your Guide Dogs access card;
• A form to report access issues and inaccessible public places;
• Guide Dogs’ contact details;
• A selection of curated resources about your right to access public spaces.

You can download our app for free on Apple and Android devices.

Challenging service providers

Our ‘Access with Confidence’ workshops aim to empower guide dog owners to speak up in the face of access refusal. We hope that attendees will leave our workshop:

• Feeling confident in making service providers aware of their needs;
• With a better understanding of the laws relating to people with disabilities and service access;
• With a better understanding of what constitutes potential discrimination;
• Having learned how to prevent or challenge access refusal;
• Having had the opportunity to share their experience of access issues and what they did; 
• With knowledge of how the Guide Dogs Access Team can support them.

These workshops are held virtually, every two months, and last approximately one and a half hours. If you’d like to join, please register your interest by emailing information@guidedogs.org.uk or by calling Guide Line on 0800 781 1444.

The Guide Dogs Access Team

Our Access Team is here to support you if you want to challenge an access refusal or to discuss a public space you found inaccessible. They adopt a person-centred and empowering approach, whereby they give you the information and tools to help you decide on your next steps following an access refusal.

Alternatively, you can contact our Access Team by reporting an issue through Guide Line.

What happens after you’ve raised an access refusal?

After you’ve raised an access issue through the Guide Dogs app or Guide Line, someone from our Access Team will be in touch to support you.

Helpful resources

This resource list is to help educate businesses and service providers on policies protecting guide dog owners from discrimination, and to help guide dog owners to better understand their access rights. It also includes a list of industry-specific reasonable adjustments to help make premises more accessible for guide dog users.

You may feel that you’d like to educate the business that has refused access to you and your guide dog. When you feel ready, you could send the service provider an email with a link to these resources: