A CAFE manager has apologised after a shopper and his guide dog were left to stand outside in the rain and told no pets were allowed.

Tony Breach, who is partially sighted, said he was told to leave La Baguette in New Inn Hall Street in Oxford on Saturday as he tried to walk through to the phone and computer repair company Hightec Solutions above.

Mr Breach, 40, who was visiting Oxford in a hope to move to the area, was left 'angry and upset' at his treatment which forced him to deal with staff outside in the rain.

He wanted to get his iPad and phone repaired and wanted to get through to the company based on the first floor - you have to walk through the sandwich shop to get there.

He said: “I need my assistance dog but they were very insistent that they were not breaking the law.

“In the someone came outside with me in the rain which made me angry and upset. I don’t want it to happen to other people.”

An employee at Hightec Solutions, who didn't want to be named, said he was quite shocked at what happened. He added: "It's separate to our business but I thought it was best to serve the customer outside."

Mr Breach and his three-year-old Labrador assistance dog Dudley work with national support organisation The VIP Lounge, which works with about 300 blind and partially sighted people in Oxford, from a base in Rose Hill.

He returned to the cafe yesterday with the group and three guide dogs, and their owners, in protest of his treatment and to raise awareness of the problem. Group founder Ian Francis, of Gibbs Crescent, Oxford, said: “This happens regularly for us all, we get it with taxi drivers and restaurants especially. The dogs have a right to go anywhere the public can go but it’s a very common part of what I do, I must get about 30 calls a week like this.”

Manager of the sandwich shop Ahmed Toukawer said he was sorry and that the employee involved did not realise the law.

He added: “We can’t let every dog in because it is a food business but assistance dogs and guide dogs are fine.

“I think they should have a card which says the law and states they're a guide dog because our employee didn’t know when they were waiting inside.”

MP Andrew Smith hopes to campaign about the law alongside Guide Dogs and Oxford City Council, he said: “It is good if the establishment realised its mistake but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Guide dogs are not someone’s pet, they are someone’s eyes.”

In 2014 a blind man was told to leave Wallingford Tandoori because he was with his guide dog.

The restaurant later apologised and said the waiter was unaware of the law which requires all establishments to make adjustments to allow access for guide dogs.