Lancashire teen’s discrimination battle A disabled teen has hit out at taxi drivers he claims persistently ignore him because he uses a wheelchair.
Jack Milner, 19, from Longton, near Preston, was born with muscle-wasting condition Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which has robbed him of his mobility.
He said that on nights out in Preston city centre, he often has to wait hours for a taxi to pick him up, despite all black cabs having ramps and wheelchair straps.
The discrimination has been labelled a “hate crime” by town centre councillor Michael Lavalette, who has called for the immediate banning of drivers found flouting the law.
Jack, who usually manages to get a lift into town, said: “Every time I go out getting back is a struggle.
“The other night I was with a friend waiting at the taxi rank outside Lava Ignite in Church Street, and four taxis drove past me, saying they didn’t have any ramps, before I got one to stop.
“I find it very frustrating when I see the drivers signalling ‘no light’, and then other people get in.”
When Jack and his group do manage to get a taxi, drivers don’t always strap the wheelchair in, leaving Jack’s friends having to hold it in place.
Jack said: “On one occasion the taxi went too fast round a corner, my chair slid, and I smacked my head on the window.
“Other times my friends have had to get on their knees on the cab floor to try to keep the chair in position.”
Jack said he has also been refused a taxi outside Preston railway station and had to call his dad John for a lift at 3am.
John said: “When Jack told me that he’d been waiting over an hour to get a taxi, I decided that I wasn’t going to have it. People need to know what’s going on.
“It’s not just Jack that’s affected, it’s his mates too, and I think that cabbies saying they haven’t got a ramp is a weak excuse not to get out of the cab.”
A spokesman for Preston-based Disability Equality North West said he had heard similar complaints before.
He said: “This is something that our advisers do hear about in Preston, and we write letters to the authorities, calling for action.”
All 187 black cabs in Preston have ramps as well as straps and are wheelchair accessible.
Preston council operates a penalty points scheme for refusing disabled passengers, with any proven offence carrying a 10-point penalty.
Any driver accumulating 20 points in a rolling 12-month period is required to attend a hearing, and could have their licence suspended.
Mr Milner added: “When I spoke to an enforcement officer at the council who said that it was up to Jack, as the victim of discrimination, to provide the evidence that the taxi drivers are not doing their job.
“This puts him in a confrontational situation, a place where he doesn’t want to be.
“I would have expected the council to have at least said they would remind all of their drivers of their obligations to take the next passenger regardless of disability.”
A spokesman for Preston Council said: “Passengers should not be turned away from a black cab in the city because of a disability as all the vehicles are equipped to accommodate wheelchairs.
“Any driver found to be discriminating passengers in this way will be disciplined accordingly.”
Charles Oakes chairman of the Bolton, Bury, Burnley, Preston Hackney Association, said the responsibility of taxi drivers was “not cut and dried”.
He said: “Drivers know the conditions of licensing and they know how the Disability Discrimination Act works as well.
“There are a few situations where I would think it was right for a driver to refuse to pick up a disabled passenger but this must not be abused.
“Drivers need to make a judgement call if they are responsible for loading and unloading, and if they think they can’t do it safely, then I believe that health and safety rules over-ride everything else.”
He added: “I’ve done it in the past when there was a disabled man of about 20 stone. I thought no way am I pushing him up a ramp, for my own safety, and for his.
“It’s not clear-cut on insurance either – where does our responsibility start and finish?
“We’ve had claims against drivers in the past for damaging electric wheelchairs.
“There are a lot of considerations on this subject and drivers must apply them sensibly.
“It must also be remembered that there’s not one Hackney carriage that fits all – there’s all different types of chairs now.”
Coun Lavalette, said: “It’s outrageous to hear this is going on and I would like to see any driver doing this banned immediately.
“We should strive to help disabled people lead the life that they want to.
“This fits in with the national trend of hate crimes increasing.
“Although it’s not a physical attack, it’s humiliating and it counts as a hate crime.”
source:
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/lancash ... -1-5688230
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