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Taxi driver admits refusing to take disabled woman
A TAXI driver has been left shamed after refusing to transport a disabled woman. Dad-of-two Syed Ahmed told the 69-year-old woman that he didn’t know how to use the ramp to get her wheelchair into his vehicle. But a court was told this was not true.
The incident left the woman, who suffers from cerebral palsy, very upset and sparked an investigation by Gateshead Council. Council legal chiefs decided to prosecute Ahmed under an 1846 Act which applies to Hackney Carriage licences.
At Gateshead Magistrates’ Court, Ahmed, 60, of Windsor Avenue, Bensham, Gateshead, pleaded guilty to refusing to drive his Hackney Carriage when requested by a passenger.
Prosecutor Jenny Rook said the case arose from an incident in July when Sylvia Kirkley and her carer approached Ahmed, who was first in line at the taxi rank outside the Tesco store in Ellison Street in Gateshead town centre.
He got out of his cab and told her he couldn’t take them because he didn’t know how to use the ramp and could only transport people who could walk. He then told them to get the taxi behind.
Miss Kirkley told investigators: “I was very upset and started to cry. This made me feel horrible and helpless.” Ahmed was originally found guilty in his absence in November, but then successfully applied to the court to reopen the case and plead not guilty. However, before a trial took place he changed his plea to guilty.
At the November hearing the court was told he initially said he didn’t know how to operate the ramp. He then confessed he did know how to, but claimed he could not do it because he had an injured shoulder. He was asked to produce a doctor’s note for investigators, which he did and this confirmed he did not have an injury.
Michael Gibson, defending, said Ahmed denied the offence, but changed his plea because he appreciates what happened had a considerable effect on the passenger. Ahmed, he said, is married with two children and has no previous convictions.
His family, said Mr Gibson, struggle to manage on £229 a week in benefits and he became a taxi driver to help pay for his car, but since the incident he has retired and someone else has taken over his taxi driving duties. “He is well aware of the effect his actions had on the victim and bitterly regrets this,” added Mr Gibson.
Magistrates gave Ahmed a conditional discharge for six months and ordered him to pay £100 compensation to the victim. He must also pay £400 towards the council’s £1,500 legal bill.
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