Taxi Driver Online

Concern at lack of taxi cabs for rural disabled

WHEELCHAIR users outside major cities are being left stranded because councils have failed to license enough accessible taxis, a leading disability charity has claimed.

Research by Capability Scotland found that 40% of Scotland’s 32 local authorities had no accessibility requirement in their taxi licensing regulations and had not kept pace with equality legislation.

It identified a rural/urban split in the approach of councils, with the majority outside cities having less stringent licensing criteria. This is a particular problem for wheelchair users in remote areas who are also less likely to have access to frequent and reliable public transport, the charity said.






Its report was published yesterday ahead of a Scottish Government consultation on taxi licensing, due to be published next week.

Richard Hamer, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland, said there had been little improvement since the charity’s last taxi survey in 2009.

He said: “The Equality Act 2010 places a positive duty on local authorities to proactively consider how disabled people will be affected by their activities, including their licensing function. Many local authorities are failing to act on this obligation when it comes to the licensing of taxis.”

According to Scottish Government figures, 46% of the 10,000 licensed taxis in Scotland are accessible to wheelchair users, compared to only 2.6% of the 10,000 licensed private hire cars.

A spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the umbrella body for councils, said: “Councils take their duties in relation to equalities and disabilities extremely seriously.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman added: “The Scottish Government will look at opportunities to work with Capability Scotland to encourage best practice in local authority accessibility policies.”

source: http://www.heraldscotland.com/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Dear oh dear skippy - they've noticed

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

And they used Skippy's much quoted "best practice" too, which means it's ILLEGAL for Skippy NOT to have a WAV!

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Former taxi driver

Been pushing this with my council for over a year now.

We have two zones one is 100% wav, the other has just 8 from over 150 vehicles who subsidise the 8
They satisfied the council that
a) they are rural and have no requirement
b) many disabled prefer a saloon car as it is easier to get in and out of

Of course the council charges us all the same fees.

The council transport strategy 2007-2010 was to increase WAV's with various action and policy statements.

In sept they published a draft LTS with all reference to the taxi trade and public use removed.

they only allow hacks in my area and there is about 5 on our system and 3 of them only work nights

On the Subject of Disablity, some owners of Wheelchair accessible minibuses who operate on PSV also run them as 8 passenger seaters on Taxi or PH licences so they can be driven by Non PSV drivers using their Hack or PH licences on PH or HC plates. they can do so providing they remove the Extra seats to leave only 8 passengers seats in the vehicle, that's fair enough I guess as it removes the possibilty of Intent of using the surplus seats if they were to be left In the Vehicle.

Now, My question is....If you removed the extra seats to leave only 8 Passenger seats and then picked up a some one or some people who were required to travel seated in their wheelchair, would the driver using a PH or Hack Licence be breaking the law because they still have more available seating (8 fitted seats ) than they can legally carry use..because the 9th or 10th seat is technically the wheelchair themselves?

Any Ideas?