Video taken by a guide dog captured footage of her human’s encounter with a rude commuter while they were on an escalator of the London Underground.
Amit Patel and his guide dog, Kika, shared footage of their encounter on Twitter. Guide dogs are trained to “hold their ground” while on escalators to keep their humans from falling. But the commuter grew impatient and wanted to get by.
The rude commuter asks Amit to move to the right. But Amit tells the man he can’t do that as his dog is a guide dog. But the commuter continues to insist on passing. That’s when staff of the London Transport For London (TFL) intercede.
The TFL staff interjects and asks the man “How do you expect him to get down, he needs to hold on to the handrail” to which the commuter unthinkingly responds, “no, no just let go of the handrail and I can pass.”
But the TFL repeats that Amit has to hold on to the side of the escalator for his safety.
The rude commuter responds and says he didn’t think he was being inconsiderate, but other commuters tell him he was.
If you see a #GuideDog on a escalator please wait patiently behind. Under no circumstance should you try to push through! I’m trained to hold my ground to keep dad & myself safe. Great job by @TfL staff who was with us 👍 @guidedogs @GuidedogsLondon @transportforall #LondonBridge pic.twitter.com/zny8J6zisI
— Kika 🇬🇧 (@Kika_GuideDog) February 7, 2018
The video clip is a short but powerful reminder that under no circumstance should anyone try to push through from behind when there is a guide dog with his/her human on an escalator in front.
This is not the first time Amit and Kika have exposed the inconsiderate behavior they are exposed to while out in London. The two share footage of the challenges they face in the city to help raise awareness about the daily mistreatment guide dogs and their humans face.
Amit previously shared that people often hit Kika on escalators in their rush to get by them. “They have loads of space to get past, but they seem to think it is fun to barge into a blind person,” Amit told the Daily Mail.
“Kika always sits to my left hand side so we often block the escalator and people will hit her with bags and umbrellas to get her to move out of the way. The worst part is the tutting and negative comments behind me,” he said. “People are so rude and arrogant and assume they can do whatever they want.”
In this encounter, there was a positive outcome thanks to the staff of Transport For London and the rude commuter may have learned something he will take away for the next time he could encounter a person with visual impairment.
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