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Hi @Eurostar I've just been denied boarding in Brussels with my trainee assistance dog. You knew when I booked that he was in training and that I was the handler - I have this in writing. Why then is the train manager in Brussels allowed to deny me boarding on these grounds?
The manager also made bizarre claims about my dog possibly being killed by the UK authorities if he wasn't a fully trained assistance dog. This is simply untrue. Pet dogs are allowed to travel provided they have a rabies vaccination and have been dewormed in the past 5 days.
My dog meets all of these medical requirements and I have his passport, with vets signatures to prove this. The manager never asked about his medical records (though he photocopied the passport), so that wasn't in question apparently.
The check in staff also suggested that I travel to Paris with the Eurostar instead of the UK, suggesting that the problem wasn't with the Eurostar itself, or with any aspect of my dogs behaviour.
I was also asked irrelevant personal questions about the nature of my trip and why I wanted to go to the UK. When I said it was to visit friends, they told me that my trip wasn't necessary. This is not only irrelevant...
...but as an international travel company you must be aware that many of your customers travel both for pleasure, but also to maintain family links across Europe. The maintenance of these family ties is not frivolous and I deeply resent the suggestion that it is
During the discussion one of the staff tried to stroke my dog - this is something that it is widely known is not allowed with assistance dogs. It is incredibly distracting for them...
...I also had to be quick to prevent it. I probably said it reasonably sharply. People also often resent being told they can't touch the dog. The manager then accused me of being aggressive and told me he could have me removed from the station.
I showed the staff, including the manager my correspondence with @Eurostar prior to booking where I explained the situation fully and provided all requested documents. I also had paper copies with me. This was dismissed out of hand.
I then asked him to call the Eurostar staff in the UK with whom this had all already been discussed and arranged. He went away and I was told that he did this. Finally he returned to tell me that he was denying us boarding.
The reasons that he gave were 1) that I was not disabled (I never claimed to be and this was known at the time of booking) 2) that my dog has not yet completed his training (I made this clear from the outset, Eurostars website at time of booking said that dogs in training...
...could also be carried and the team who checked the eligibility and made the booking were aware of this) and lastly 3) that I am not the owner of the dog. This last reason is irrelevant - assistance dogs are typically not owned by the client (the blind person etc)...
... instead they remain the property of the training organisation, who then also look after the dogs retirement. This last reason was made up by the manager on the spot - it should never have factored into a decision to deny me travel.
I asked the manager to provide me these reasons for denial of boarding in writing and he refused then immediately walking away. It was incredibly rude.
There are two big problems with what happened today - the fact that I (and my dog) was judged to meet the Eurostar eligibility requirements at the time of booking, but a train manager at time of travel was allowed to make a completely different decision with the same information
It means that your decisions simply cannot be relied on. To emphasise - there was no question of other reasons for denial of travel - just that the manager felt he didn't meet the assistance dog requirements. I cannot make travel plans with you on this basis. No one can.
I also question the quality of the train manager's decision making, based on the arguments he made to me, about ownership, about the potential for non assistance dogs to be destroyed, about the odd suggestions that I take the Eurostar to Paris instead (?)
Finally, as a Brit living in the Netherlands, I rely on @eurostar services to be able to maintain connections with friends and family in the UK. I reject your staff's opinion that travel for these purposes is trivial and that I had no need to travel in this case
A couple more things before I end this thread, on how this can be put right. Firstly, and obviously, I would like full refund, both for my Eurostar ticket, but also for the additional ticket I had to buy today to bring me back to the Netherlands.
I'm not interested in an apology about this matter either - I'd like to see change from @Eurostar instead. In my personal case, there is not question of disability discrimination. Others who do have disabilities have replied to me to say they've had similar issues however.
What my experience does definitely show, is a lack of training and awareness on the part of Eurostar staff about assistance dogs (how they are certified for example and how that is proven), about EU and UK dog (any dog) travel requirements.
And that will, and apparently does, have an impact on people who rely on their dogs for support. The lack of coordination across the org and the refusal to accept the decisions of colleagues in other parts of the org about who can travel and on what terms is also a huge problem
I would like to see the training and other structures put in place to resolve those issues. I want to be able to buy a ticket and know that the same terms will stand at the point I come to travel...
Disability campaigners are better placed to describe the specific other things that need to be done to allow people that rely on their dogs to travel comfortably and conveniently, so I'll leave that to them to advise. My experience suggests there are issues there too.
A quick update and thanks to everyone who responded - Eurostar have been in touch to sort things out and we're currently trying to see if we can get me to the UK tomorrow instead.
Quick update
It wasn't possible for me to travel in the end - I couldn't ask my dog to do such a trip for the second time in two days and there was no one who could look after him at short notice. So staying home and having a quiet one. Hopefully things will be changed for future travellers.
