NEWS laws will end frustration for guide dog owners around the country who want to travel in private hire vehicles.

The Disability Discrimination Act introduced last year made it illegal for black cab drivers to refuse to carry guide dogs.

But the legislation did not cover private hire vehicles and it is only now that an amendment to the act has successfully passed through the House of Commons and House of Lords.

The Private Hire Vehicles (Carriage of Guide Dogs etc) Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent and become law within the next few weeks.

Guide dog owners in Bolton have enjoyed the right to be carried in a mini cab since September last year.

Licensing councillors made it a condition of obtaining a private hire operator's or driver's licence that guide dogs be carried when requested unless there is a medical reason why they should not be.

Before then blind people in the town complained they repeatedly had long waits, or were sometimes even stranded because drivers refused to carry their dogs

Bolton is one of nearly 250 local councils around the country who have used their licensing powers in this way, but some others have refused to do so.

A delighted Guide Dogs for the Blind Association says the new law will help blind and partially sighted people get easier access to transport.

"A completely unacceptable situation is now at an end and if guide dog owners face this sort of discrimination in the future they will be able to use the law to get redress," said chief executive Geraldine Peacock.