17057/2A BLIND man is lodging an official complaint after he claims two restaurants discriminated against him.

Justin Conboy, 31, of The Lye, Seend, is registered blind and uses a guide dog to get around.

He spent Saturday morning in Calne with his wife Teresa, 42, and their two young children and looked for somewhere to have morning coffee and cakes.

But Mr Conboy said staff in two restaurants discriminated against him when he walked in with his guide dog Glen.

First the family went to Piccante, Beach Terrace.

Mr Conboy said: "A girl came over immediately and said 'no dogs in here'.

"They proceeded to have a debate. I wasn't prepared to stand there in a place where they tried to turn me away so we walked out."

Next the Conboys went to the Lansdowne Hotel, where Mr Conboy claims they were shown through to the hotel's lounge to eat rather than being seated in the bistro with other customers.

Mr Conboy, who has a degenerative condition and has relied on his guide dog for the past two years, believes he has been treated against the Disability Discrimination Act and is planning to make a formal complaint to the Disability Rights Commission.

He said: "This will be the first time I have made a complaint.

"Usually people just backtrack and apologise but that isn't good enough. It's the attitude surrounding it that has to change.

The 31-year-old, who has lived in Wiltshire since Christmas and manages the hearing and vision team at Wiltshire's Social Services, said: "I get this sort of treatment a lot everywhere.

"My wife gets more upset than I do now because I'm used to it."

Ugras Dagtekin, manager of Piccante, said he had not realised Mr Conboy was blind and thought the dog was with Mrs Conboy.

His brother Ozgur said he would normally expect people with dogs to sit outside. He said: "Nobody with a dog has ever wanted to sit inside but they could if they wanted to. I would ask people at the table nearby if they had any sort of allergy. It would be a tricky situation but if he wanted to sit inside he would be allowed to."

Sue Calleya, company secretary for Lansdowne said: "The reason he was asked to go into the lounge was because we were re-setting from breakfast to lunch. It was for his own comfort and it's quite normal for us to serve coffees in the lounge area and usually breakfast and lunch is served in the bistro. They were told by our managing director they could sit where they wanted but they chose to leave. There's no way we would discriminate against them."