ScotRail deny blind man and guide dog Sleeper booking

[whole diary]

[swrural]

Thanks Chris, whoops!  I used to not use smileys in correspondence but took to doing so after sundry misunderstandings were experienced.  However, new specs required.  Now where is the red-faced one?      

[Chris from Nailsea]

No problem, swrural!

I find myself using this one a lot ...  ('embarrassed').

[LiskeardRich]

  My comment was based on the fact that dogs are not allowed in shops selling food, so there must be a reason for that.

Although guide dogs are nearly always permitted. Every No Dogs permitted sign I recall seeing shows "No Dogs Permitted except guide dogs"

[vacmanfan]

I'm happy to enter into conversation with whoever thinks I am making a personal attack on swrural...

Might be quite difficult to be personal as i do not know this person. 

However, and it has nothing to do with loving dogs, I am quite amazed that somebody could suggest that a Visually Impaired person should be separated from the very thing they depend on 24 hours a day. 

The fact that somebody is more offended by MY post than that one says a lot...

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. 

This particular topic always had the potential to become slightly heated, as it covered disabilities and dogs - two things which can generate quite passionate views sometimes, particularly when discussed together.

As well as the strongly held divergent views expressed here, the admin team have received a general comment from another member, which grahame quoted. We took the view that posts on this topic were all valid, but perhaps in danger of getting a bit 'personal' in their nature.

I've subsequently tried to maintain a relatively light-hearted tone in the recent discussion, but I've now received further feedback from a member expressing some concern that posts continue to focus more on individuals than the issues raised.

As this discussion has now covered a lot of the issues raised by the original post quite validly, and the story does not directly apply to the Great Western area anyway, I've now locked this topic to let things cool down a bit.

Chris from Nailsea. 

[JayMac]

The topic has been unlocked to allow for this update - a tweet from ScotRail:

https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/304973434998362112

Just to let you know we^ve removed the 48-hour notice period to take assistance dogs and domestic pets on our Sleepers

Comment on this latest turn of events is welcome, but please try and avoid remarks that can be construed as personal attacks on other forum members.