A blind man has spoken out and claimed he was forced to stand on a packed train with his guide dog because no one offered him a seat despite repeatedly asking if there was any space left.
As Jonathan Attenborough, who works as an advocate for people with disabilities, said, he didn’t receive any response when he asked the passengers on the way from Edinburgh to Perth if there was any space left. In addition, no one from the railroad service was willing to help him get settled.
“Completely unacceptable passenger assistance from @ScotRail to leave me and my guide dog in the doorway of the train,” Jonathan wrote on Twitter after the incident.
“I asked several times if there was any spare seats and not one passenger responded. Doesn’t give me much faith in humanity.”
Following the social media backlash that the passengers and the company responsible for managing the line received, ScotRail’s representative spoke out and apologized for the negative experience while assuring Jonathan that they are “currently rolling out mandatory training outlined in the ORR Assisted Travel Policy. All new staff, including senior/key managers, will receive this as part of their induction by July 2021.”
Previously, the Scotland-based advocate revealed how he was left terrified after an animal rights activist lashed out at him and scolded him for making the dog work rather than letting it run free.
As Jonathan said, he was walking around with Sam the Labrador, his guide dog, when a woman approached him and told him to let the dog be free instead of making the animal work because of his disability.
While it may seem bizarre that anyone would do something like that, Jonathan said this wasn’t the first time he was harassed by animal rights activists.
“The first time it happened to me was in April this year. I was in a café in Edinburgh with Sam and a man approached me to tell me I shouldn’t have a guide dog,” the blind man told MailOnline.
“He said dogs should be running free in the fields, not sitting in cafes. I thought he was joking at first. He wasn’t particularly hostile, just looking to have a conversation, and after I explained what kind of life Sam has, he wasn’t 100 percent convinced but he did seem much more open to the idea.”
This recent incident, however, was much worse according to Jonathan. As he expressed, the confrontation left him concerned about what else, or who else, he might encounter in the future.
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