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| Inverness taxi service letting down wheelchair users http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30676 |
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| Author: | edders23 [ Wed Feb 08, 2017 4:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Inverness taxi service letting down wheelchair users |
A SEVERE lack of wheelchair accessible taxis is a “massive problem” in Inverness and is impacting all aspects of wheelchair users’ lives. Karen Fraser, who works as deputy manager at Cheshire House, a centre for people with disabilities, claims the city’s few wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV) are often unavailable when she tries to make bookings – an issue she comes across at least “three to four times a week”. There are currently 344 taxis licensed by the Inverness office of Highland Council and only 11 of them are wheelchair accessible. Ms Fraser said this lack of provision is robbing those with disabilities of any chance of being spontaneous. “It is a massive problem and it makes it very difficult for a wheelchair user to have a social life,” she said. “Never mind being spontaneous. “It has an impact on all parts of their lives and restricts appointments if you don’t fall in the criteria for a hospital transfer – because they will not let you book wheelchair accessible taxis. We are told to call on the day and then the companies have none on the road that day. “When you go to the big cities, all of the black cabs are accessible; Inverness is behind the nation.” The group has a mini van for helping to transport service users but it has 16 full-time residents as well as day residents, meaning that the minibus serves around 50 to 60 people. It can be costly to take one person to Raigmore Hospital and many members of staff are unable to drive it. She added: “We see it every day; I would say we have an issue with taxis three to four times a week. It impacts on their lives in general and often stops them seeing their loved ones.” Conservative council candidate and wheelchair user, Andrew Jarvie, has been in contact with Highland Council to try and find clarity on why there is nothing in place to increase the number of wheelchair accessible taxis in Inverness. Responding to his concerns a council spokesperson said: “At present there are no schemes in place to increase the number of accessible taxis. “I would advise that unfortunately the Highland Council do not have the power to enforce the requirements that taxi companies provide a minimum number of accessible taxis or private hire cars at a given time. This is completely down to the discretion of the company or individual taxi operator.” However, other councils across Scotland have put motions in place to get more wheelchair accessible taxis on the road by using their authority over taxi licensing and equality laws. In the coming years Perth and Kinross Council plan to phase out taxis that are not classed as wheelchair accessible. A spokesman for that council explained the move was in an effort to meet its commitment to accessibility. A Highland Council spokeswoman explained that this cannot be done directly under the licensing provisions of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 but said: “Powers are however available indirectly via the Council’s Equality Act duties. The council does not as yet have an accessible taxi or private hire car policy in place and could not start imposing WAV requirements (by refusing licences for non WAV vehicles) without first adopting such a policy following a consultation process. “This is something we will be looking into, but no timescale for this can be indicated as yet.” The call for more wheelchair accessible taxis has been backed by Inverness Taxi Alliance vice chairman, Duncan Fraser. He said: “The council have to be pushed into sitting down and having a forum on this. They are failing to deal with the issues and I have no doubt that this will end in them losing a court case over their failure to tackle inequality.” He believes a method for dealing with the issue would involve making Inverness into a zone of its own in terms of taxi licensing and then imposing stricter regulations with the goal of increasing wheelchair accessible taxis. The call by Andrew Jarvie comes after it was revealed that an Inverness woman missed her mother’s death in Raigmore because she was unable to acquire a wheelchair accessible vehicle to take her there. |
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