Amit Patel with guide dog Kika. Patel regularly records the abuse and anger he faces during his daily commute via a GoPro camera attached to Kika's harness.
Amit Patel with guide dog Kika. Patel regularly records the abuse and anger he faces during his daily commute via a GoPro camera attached to Kika's harness.
A blind former doctor was reduced to tears on a train after passengers ignored his pleas for a seat while his guide dog slid around the carriage in distress.
Amit Patel, who lost his sight five years ago from a haemorrhage behind his eyes, took to Twitter to reveal his "humiliation", telling followers how he struggled to find something to hold as commuters blanked his calls for help.
The 37-year-old had walked with guide dog Kika to the end of the platform to board a Southeastern train to Waterloo in the designated disabled section, but was left feeling hurt and humiliated when nobody moved to allow him sit down.
"It's so humiliating when I struggle to find something to hold onto and keep Kika safe at the same time, this is when you'll see a tear running down my face.
"Life is difficult enough."
Patel had given Kika the verbal command "find a seat", but this was ignored by his fellow commuters, who stayed put and allowed the labrador to slip in the wet.
He added in a further heartbreaking tweet: "Kika kept sliding & she was obviously distressed. She looks after me everyday & I felt useless."
People can be so selfish, they pretend they can’t see or hear when I ask if there’s a seat available. Its so humiliating when I struggle to find something to hold onto & keep Kika safe at the same time, this is when you’ll see a tear running down my face. Life is difficult enough https://t.co/HMqGeJqRmh
The former A&E doctor was working as a locum in London hospitals when he started losing his sight five years ago.
Despite six cornea transplants in Britain and two in America, doctors were unable to save Patel's sight and each transplant was rejected by his body.
He was diagnosed with keratoconus, which changes the shape of the cornea, during his final year of medical school by his flatmate who is an optician.
Patel explained his experience on Wednesday was nothing out of the ordinary, but Kika's distress was especially heartbreaking for him.
"I was very upset yesterday as the floor on the train was slippery, Kika kept sliding and she was obviously distressed," he wrote.
"She looks after me everyday, and I felt useless."
Discussing the humiliating ordeal, Patel told the Evening Standard: "Normally she is really good or occasionally somebody says, 'here have my seat', but not yesterday.
"Nobody moved, not one person," said Patel.
None of the seemingly able-bodied people got up to give Patel a seat.
Taking the 25-minute journey from New Eltham to Waterloo East, Kika was unable to lie down on the floor as it was too wet, so she was sitting on her back paws in distress.
Patel's ordeal comes three months after he hit out at London Underground commuters and staff who ignored and pushed past him during rush hour.
Speaking to MailOnline last year, Patel described how he was fed up with being regularly ignored by staff and commuters while travelling in London, so added a camera to Kika's back to record the public's behaviour.
Patel said in one instance he had been told to apologise for being in the way and ignored by station staff.
His wife Seema reviews the footage at the end of the day and tweets about the pair's travels around the capital.
Patel said in January people "deliberately" hit him with their bags: "They have loads of space to get past but they seem to think it is fun to barge into a blind person.
"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. People are so rude and arrogant and assume they can do whatever they want.
"One lady even said I should apologise to the people behind her for holding them up. I asked her if I should apologise for being blind and she said, 'yes'.
"Sometimes I wonder who is the blind person when there are people glued to their mobile phones.
"It really scares Kika sometimes, I can feel how upset she gets and when I get upset she senses it and she won't go on the escalators for a few days."
"Sometimes the only way I get a seat is to scratch Kika behind the ears so she shakes a little - no one likes a wet dog. It makes it so much harder than it needs to be.
"There are taxi drivers who will see you and won't stop, sometimes train staff will say they didn't see me when they clearly did.
"Losing my sight is very lonely, if I'm travelling by public transport I'm sometimes like a scared little boy sat in the corner."
Kika, who has been with Patel since 2014, is one of only 5 per cent of guide dogs trained to take their owner on an escalator.
Patel, a former University College Hospital doctor, now volunteers for RNIB, Action for Blind People and Guide Dogs for the Blind to help coach new guide dog users.
