‘I’m telling you the dog is not allowed’: Shocking moment Yo! Sushi worker tries to bar TikTok star’s guide dog – and only relents after she demands to see the manager
- Lucy Edwards, 28, and guide dog Molly refused seating at Bond Street branch
- Ms Edwards was with her fiancee when server repeatedly refused to seat them
- Journalist and radio presenter says guide dog owners need more protection
- Ms Edwards is an avid campaigner with more than 1.6million TikTok followers
This is the shocking moment a restaurant worker refused to let a blind woman’s guide dog into a Yo! Sushi branch in central London.
In a video shared online, journalist Lucy Edwards, 28, can be heard fighting back tears after being told: ‘I’m telling you the dog is not allowed!’
The employee at the branch, on Bond Street, repeatedly refuses to let Ms Edwards and her dog Molly inside despite being told it is against the law to do so.
In a video shared online, journalist Lucy Edwards, 28, can be heard fighting back tears after being told: ‘I’m telling you the dog is not allowed!’
Ms Edwards, who has been blind since she was 17, has more than 1.6million followers on TikTok where her popular ‘How does a blind girl’ series sees her explaining how visually impaired and blind people carry out everyday tasks. (Pictured with retired guide dog Olga)
In the video, Ms Edwards, who lost her sight at 17, can be heard saying: ‘You can’t tell me that my guide dog is not allowed… you’re breaking the law.’
She and her fiancee Olly, who is accompanying her, then threaten to call in police, before a manager appears to say that the dog is allowed.
Ms Edwards demands an apology, informing him of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act – now part of the UK Equality Act 2010 – which grants access to guide dogs and their owners to the majority of services, venues and vehicles.
She tells the employees she has the right to report the incident to the police, referring to her dog when she explains: ‘I cannot get around without her, and you guys are refusing me entry to your establishment… basically you are discriminating against a blind woman.’
The workers eventually offer Ms Edwards a table, but she decides to leave after becoming audibly upset over the ordeal.
As she exits the restaurant, she tells staff she will be reporting their branch, adding: ‘Read up on the law and never do this to a guide dog owner again.’
The upsetting clip was uploaded to Ms Edwards’ YouTube account on September 20, which has more than 390,000 subscribers.
Yo! Sushi has apologised for the incident.
A spokesperson told MailOnline todaty that they had contacted Mr Edwards directly to apologise.
They stressed that the worker had ‘made a mistake’, adding: ‘Of course guide dogs are welcome in all of our restaurants.’
The journalist is an avid campaigner for disability rights and her TikTok account – which has more than 1.6million followers – features her popular ‘How does a blind girl’ series, which sees her explaining how visually impaired and blind people carry out everyday tasks.
Speaking to MailOnline today, Ms Edwards and her fiancee said they had initially been shown to a table with high chairs at Yo! Sushi, and asked if they could be moved to a booth.
The upsetting clip was uploaded to Ms Edwards’ YouTube account on September 20
Ms Edwards, who lost her sight at 17, tells the employees she has the right to report the incident to the police, adding: ‘I cannot get around without her, and you guys are refusing me entry to your establishment… basically you are discriminating against a blind woman’
Ms Edwards, who has had a guide dog since she was 18, said she has had so many entry refusals that she is ‘almost numb’ to it (Pictured with Molly)
They believe that is when the server noticed they had a dog with them, as he refused to take them to a table.
Ms Edwards said: ‘Olly said his facial expression just completely changed, we don’t think he saw the dog initially.
‘And then just before we started the video he said: “No dogs allowed.”‘
The couple said they only began filming after the server became ‘irate’ and ‘aggressive’ and persistently refused to seat them despite being informed about the law.
Ms Edwards, who has had a guide dog since she was 18, said she has had so many entry refusals that she is ‘almost numb’ to it.
She added: ‘You just feel scared, you don’t want the confrontation, you just want a nice night.
‘Often there’s times when I think to myself: “I don’t have the mental strength to deal with this today, I’m going to leave Molly at home” – which is awful, because she makes me the most confident that I can be with my disability, and at the end of the day she is vital.
‘People need to understand that she is an extension of me and if she is discriminated against, so am I.’
Ms Edwards said she feels ‘distraught’ and ‘unequal’ following the ordeal.
But she said being refused entry is just ‘part of my life’.
She added: ‘If I was a new guide dog owner it would knock me back for about four weeks… and some people, if they’re not as confident as me, where does something like this lead them?
‘I had the confidence in that moment, because I had my fiancee with me, to advocate for myself, but I would say that’s the most successful I’ve been, and I’ve only gained that confidence after being beaten down for years and years, and I just don’t know where this leads us as a society.’
Ms Edwards added: ‘I don’t know when this discrimination is going to stop. Every time I talk about it I get emotional because I don’t know when we’re going to achieve equality.
Ms Edwards, who was the first-ever blind presenter on BBC Radio 1, said the UK is progressive when it comes to disability rights but she feels the law could go further in providing protections (Pictured with retired guide dog Olga)
‘I don’t feel at the moment that I necessarily have rights under the law, someone can discriminate against me and then say: “Oh no you can sit here now it’s fine” – as if that does away with their initial refusal.
‘I don’t want to fight to just live a life that I deserve.’
Ms Edwards, who was the first-ever blind presenter on BBC Radio 1, said the UK is progressive when it comes to disability rights but she feels the law could go further in providing protections.
She said: ‘I think the law needs to go further because I want to feel that I can prosecute and be successful in that prosecution, without necessarily having to post it all over social media and feel like that’s my only choice to hold them accountable.
‘I want more protections under the law for guide dog owners and I’m going to advocate for that now stronger than ever.’
A spokesperson from Yo! said Wednesday: ‘We are disappointed and sorry about the experience that Lucy Edwards had at our Bond Street restaurant.
‘One of our colleagues made a mistake, and of course guide dogs are welcome in all of our restaurants.
‘Creating an inclusive environment for all of our customers and team is important to us and this incident does not reflect our values.
‘We are undertaking a thorough review to ensure that YO!’s values are reflected in all interactions and practices across our business, so none of our guests are made to feel this way in future.
‘We have contacted Lucy directly to apologise for her experience and invite her contribution into building awareness and shaping our ongoing training processes.’
The company told the Mail Online it was ‘undertaking a process with the employee’, but that it could not provide any more details ‘while it was ongoing.’
It comes after an Uber driver refused to let a man’s guide dog in his car and only changed his mind when a passerby intervened.
Footage, uploaded to Twitter on September 12, showed Stephen Anderson, who is visually impaired, asking the driver why he would not let his dog Barney (both pictured) in the car
Stephen Anderson was at Harrow on the Hill station in London with his guide dog Barney when he tried to get an Uber, only to be refused by the driver (pictured) because his dog was ‘big’
Stephen Anderson, who is visually impaired, was at Harrow on the Hill station in London with his guide dog Barney when he tried to get an Uber, only to be refused by the driver.
The Uber driver said that he only allowed small dogs in his car and claimed Barney was too ‘big’, despite Mr Anderson’s insistence that he was a guide dog.
Footage of the incident, uploaded to Twitter on September 12, showed Mr Anderson asking the driver why he would not let his dog in the car, despite being legally required to accept guide dogs.
Uber said in a statement that the driver’s behaviour was ‘totally unacceptable’.
Mr Anderson has reached out to Ms Edwards via Twitter.
He tweeted: ‘We haven’t met but I’m a guide dog owner too who regularly gets refused access, I always challenge them through the courts.
‘I’m disgusted by your refusal at Yo! Sushi.’
Ms Edwards replied: ‘Thank you so much for your support. I was so distressed but because I was with my partner I had the confidence to challenge it this time.
‘I’m here for you too! We need to stand together against discrimination!’
Research from Guide Dogs showed that the places guide dog owners are most often refused access to are minicabs, taxis, restaurants and shops.
During a one-year period, 42 per cent of assistance dogs owners were refused entry to a taxi or minicab because of their dog, while 22 per cent said a minicab or taxi drove off without speaking to them, the research showed.
An Uber driver was convicted of breaching the Equality Act after he refused to give a ride to a blind man’s guide dog at Watford junction station, Hertfordshire, in June 2019.
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