Partially sighted student left effectively blind after guide dog taken away at Gatwick Airport

The 21-year-old student had to pay more than £500 to get her dog back

Laura Reyes Martin said she had flown to the UK with Jamie the dog many times without a problem

A partially sighted woman whose guide dog was taken away after an EasyJet flight from Spain landed at Gatwick has said it was "the worst experience of my life".

Laura Reyes Martin, who has severe tunnel vision, was left effectively blind when her Labrador, Jamie, was removed following a failure of communication over tapeworm tablets.

EasyJet said it was the passenger's duty to ensure the dog had the correct documents and medication, but the Animal Reception Centre at Gatwick said they should have been told by the airline.

Ms Reyes Martin, a 21-year-old Spanish Erasmus student, was told to find a hotel overnight while Jamie was quarantined – despite her not being able to move around independently without him.

She said she was appalled to find she had to pay £500 to get her three-year-old dog back, adding that she had flown to the UK without problem on numerous occasions.

The incident at the end of the flight from the Spanish island of Gran Canaria saw the pilot, the Animal Reception Centre, and air hostesses, who were reportedly crying, all remaining onboard for several hours.

"I was in shock, I didn't know what to do," Ms Reyes Martin told The Independent.

"I was so desperate, my family were asleep so I couldn't call them so I called my friend just to say please help me. It went on for hours."


 Ms Reyes Martin has tunnel vision and said she cannot move independently properly without her stick or Jamie

EasyJet staff and Gatwick animal reception team told Ms Reyes Martin to find a hotel and return the next day to get her dog, despite her needing either a white stick or Jamie to do so.

They also said she would have a £504.37 veterinary bill to get Jamie out of quarantine, which Ms Reyes Martin said she could not afford and needed help from a flatmate to pay.

"I didn't have my stick and I was totally blind there. It was the worst experience of my life," she said.


 The Gatwick Animal Air veterinary bill of £504.37 which Ms Martin had to pay to get her dog out of quarantine

Airlines are required to tell animal reception teams about people travelling with guide dogs before they are due to fly so documentation can be checked beforehand.

A spokesperson at the Animal Reception Centre told The Independent: "If we had known about it before, we would have looked through the copy.

"We are supposed to be told by the airline at least 24 hours before they fly."

Ms Reyes Martin said a member of the animal rescue team told her that it was "not the first time" there had been a failure of communication involving EasyJet.

However EasyJet said in a statement: "The carriage of assistance dogs on aircraft is strictly controlled and so we provide full information on our website and through our special assistance team to ensure that passengers travelling with assistance dogs can be fully informed.

"It is it is the responsibility of passengers to ensure that assistance dogs possess the correct documents and have received the correct medication.

"We understand that this was a difficult situation for Ms Reyes Martin and so we did everything possible to assist her, which included our cabin crew remaining with the passenger for an hour and a half whilst arrangements were made with the authorities and offering Ms Reyes Martin the option of staying in a hotel or a taxi home.

"She chose to travel home and a member of our ground crew escorted her in the taxi to ensure she got home safely."