By Stephen Mulvey BBC News Online

A blind British woman is fighting for the right to book a special disabled seat with her guide dog on French railways.

Verity Smith frequently visits her parents in the south of France, but says taking her dog Kay is a nightmare.

The French rail network expects blind passengers to travel with guide dogs at their feet, in the aisle or under the seat beside them.

But Kay is no small dog - she is a four-year-old Leonberger, a large breed related to the St Bernard, weighing a full 55 kilos (eight-and-a-half stone).

Verity is writing a comic travel book recording her experiences

Ms Smith says it is not right to squeeze any guide dog, even a labrador, into a small space for a long journey.

And Ms Smith, a 30-year-old singer and writer, also needs easy access, with Kay, to a disabled toilet.

Booking the special disabled seat provided on French trains would give her all she needs, she says - but the French rail company, SNCF, says she is not eligible because she does not have a wheelchair.

"Being in a wheelchair is their only definition of being disabled," says Ms Smith.

"Blind people just seem to have been overlooked."

Freedom of movement

SNCF spokeswoman Dominique Martin told BBC News Online she was not aware that any blind passengers objected to travelling with their guide dog at their feet.

She advised Ms Smith to contact the customer services department.

But Ms Smith says she has been doing just this for two years.

It does make you smile, but it is also really irritating Verity Smith

"They always just say they are looking into the question," she said.

Up to now she has usually got round the problem by pretending to have a wheelchair when making a reservation over the telephone.

But this can make it difficult getting a ticket for Kay.

The way SNCF computers see it, people can have a wheelchair or a guide dog, but not both.

"It's a Catch 22 situation," she says.

For two years Ms Smith has been lobbying the cross-channel rail service, Eurostar, to allow dogs on board, and has now been told that this will finally be possible from July.

For the battle to persuade SNCF to change its ways, she has enlisted the help of London MEP Claude Moraes, who believes her right to freedom of movement could be being restricted.

First class

He tabled a question to the European Parliament in March referring to "anomalies and unfair practices" in the allocation of disabled seats on public transport and the admission of guide dogs on to buses and trains.

Kay is a Leonberger, related to St Bernard and Newfoundland breeds

He is also campaigning for EU-wide disability discrimination regulations that, amongst other things, would ensure that disabled people were as free to travel as the able-bodied.

One of the problems, Ms Smith says, is that there just aren't enough disabled seats - usually just one per train or aircraft, in the first class section.

Officials sometimes interrogate her to check how blind she is, before letting her occupy this seat with an economy class ticket.

"All I want is an appropriate seat, I don't care what class it is in," says Ms Smith, who was registered blind at the age of 18.

"It does make you smile, but it is also really irritating."

Bridget Jones

She is recording some of her experiences in a book, a comical travel journal, which she describes as "Bridget Jones gone blind".

Before successfully negotiating with Eurostar, Ms Smith also helped to persuade British Midland Airways to allocate a suitable space for blind passengers with guide dogs.

For her next trip to France she will be travelling on British Midland to Paris then taking a fast SNCF train to Nimes - in the official disabled seat.

"A French friend who booked the ticket for me managed to convince someone that I was travelling in a wheelchair and that I needed a guide-dog because I was blind," she says.

"They obviously thought what a very unfortunate person I was, and bent the rules."