Glasgow B&M staff 'embarrassed' disabled customer

Iain Wallace, from Clarkston, claims an employee challenged him after he brought his service dog Mungo into the Shawlands branch in Glasgow's Southside. 

The 65-year-old, who was in the navy reserves, suffers from arthritis and spondylosis which means he struggles with his mobility and uses a walking stick.

He relies on his four-year-old Jack-Tzu dog, which wears a blue lead and harness, alerting others to the fact he is an assistance dog, for getting around on his own and keeping his independence.

Iain relies on his service dog Mungo for support (Image: Gordon Terris)

Now Iain claims he was left uncomfortable and upset while shopping last week when a B&M security guard told him he had to pick up his dog and asked “what’s wrong with you anyway?”.

Iain said: “Mungo gives me a lot of confidence physically and mentally when I go out which lets me keep my independence.

“I struggle with my mobility and walk with a stick, so when the security guard asked me to pick up my service dog I was surprised.

“I explained he is a service dog and pointed out his lead which says that, but I was told he wasn’t allowed and then asked ‘what is wrong with you anyway?’.

“It was really embarrassing and inappropriate so I was annoyed, it made me feel unwelcome and singled out because I need assistance.”

Mungo has a uniform that clearly shows he is a service dog (Image: Gordon Terris)

Refusing to allow access to people with assistance dogs is likely to be unlawful disability discrimination as the Equality Act 2010 states that service providers must make reasonable adjustments to policies for disabled people.

Iain complained to the shop who have now launched an investigation into the incident as a result.

They assured that service dogs are “warmly” welcomed in stores and reports like this incident are taken “very seriously”.

Iain now wants more training and awareness to be introduced to stop him being discriminated against in the city and beyond.

He said: “I told the manager that the security guard clearly hadn’t been given training which is the store's responsibility.

“The problem is a lack of awareness and ignorance, more people need to understand why service dogs are needed and that they are allowed inside.

“I hope B&M takes this full thing seriously and makes changes in store so no one else needs to go through this.”

A spokesperson for B&M said: “B&M would like to reassure customers that we warmly allow both assistance dogs and service dogs into our stores.

“This is an isolated incident and we take reports like this very seriously.

“We are in direct contact with the security team member in question so we can conduct a full investigation and ensure the right measures are taken to prevent this from happening again in future.”