A mother who is registered blind says she is in shock after being spat at and verbally abused in a city centre coffee shop.

Angela Perrow, who is learning to use a guide dog, said she suffered a sickening verbal attack from a customer at Costa Coffee, in Kirkgate, Bradford.

Mrs Perrow said the man spat at her and the guide dog after telling her she was “not even blind” and should “take her mutt out of the coffee shop”.

Costa Coffee have subsequently barred the customer from the shop and West Yorkshire Police were studying CCTV footage from the area in an attempt to identify the person responsible.

Mrs Perrow, 32, was registered blind about a year ago after being diagnosed with the genetic condition Usher syndrome, which leads to progressive vision loss due to a degeneration of the retina.

In the knowledge that her sight will get worse, the mother-of-three had been having lessons on how to instruct her guide dog and had travelled to Bradford for a lesson with Janet Champion, from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Mrs Perrow, of Harehill Road, Thackley, said: “Janet and I went into Costa Coffee and stayed there for an hour, then Janet went to leave. As soon as she went, this guy started hurling abuse at me, shouting ‘you are not even blind’ and ‘get that mutt out of here’.

“I tried to ignore him but he shouted ‘are you deaf as well? Can’t you hear me? I have told you and that mutt to get out’.

“Then he got up and spat at the dog and at me. It didn’t land on me but it landed on the dog. He was really, really loud and intimidating.

“There were people around, but nobody helped me – that’s what really hurt. I rang Janet and she came back, but he just threw a load of abuse at her too.

“I have gone into shock after what happened.”

Mrs Perrow, who is partially sighted, said: “My point is that people out there have got to understand that you can have some vision and still be registered blind.”

She added that coffee shop staff should have reacted more quickly to tackle the problem.

A Costa Coffee spokesman said: “We take the safety of all our customers extremely seriously and would like to apologise for the distressing experience that the customer in question encountered in our store recently.

“The member of staff on duty at the time followed strict company procedure and did everything possible to assist the situation at the time.

“The Costa regular, who has never before caused a problem in the three years that he has frequented the store, was promptly asked to leave and will be denied access in the future as a result.”

Peter Bruce, of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in Bradford, said: “Unfortunately, this kind of thing does still happen, although it’s better now than it used to be.

“I have had a guide dog since 1975 and have had one or two run-ins. You get the odd person who says ‘what do you need that dog for?’ “I am totally blind, but like most blind people, I have a sense of where my knife and fork are, but you get people asking ‘how did you know where they were to pick them up?’ “Most of the public are very understanding but, like in any walk of life, you get the plonkers.

“You tend to find that a lot of members of the public don’t agree with it when they hear it, but don’t want to get involved for fear that the situation could turn nasty.

“It’s sad that this has happened to this lady so early on. She has enough to worry about getting used to the dog without that sort of thing happening.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “The woman has been interviewed and her account taken. Inquiries are ongoing to try to find the person responsible. We are looking at CCTV.”

The incident happened just after noon last Thursday.