manc refusenickA private hire taxi driver refused to let three blind people travel in his car... because one of them had a guide dog.
Muhammad Ibrar, 26, has now been hauled before the courts and hit with a bill of £530.
The fare, just under two miles away, would have taken seven minutes and cost around £6.
And a disability rights campaigner who challenged Ibrar over his refusal and took the case to town
halll bosses says the case served as a lesson to all taxi drivers.
lousy editorial standards
Under the Equalities Act 2010, blind people cannot be refused access or service – or given substandard access or service – simply because they have a guide dog.
Ibrar, of Heywood Street, Bury, was sent to collect the fare from Bury Blind Society on Tenterden Street in Bury town centre in April.Stephen Kingsberry, 66, from Crumpsall, was waiting there with two friends, a married couple from Bury who were with a guide dog.
Mr Kingsberry, a member of the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, lodged a formal complaint to Bury council’s licensing and trading standards team the next day.
He described Ibrar as ‘arrogant’ and said: “He said to my friends that he wouldn’t take them because of the guide dog. They were very upset. We took down his plate number and he still refused to do the job. He kept saying ‘no’ and that he didn’t have to take the job“99 per cent of blind people would have let it go, but it’s the law. What was going through my mind was that he was a stupid, young fool and it was going to cost him.
doubt that“I would hope that he has learnt that it is not something you can do.”
Ibrar pleaded guilty at Manchester and Salford magistrates court to an offence under the Equality Act 2010 - failing or refusing to carry out a booking accepted by his operator because an assistance dog was accompanying a disabled person.
Magistrates were told they had to call another taxi, which did pick them up. Ibrar was fined £250 and ordered to pay costs of £250 alongside a £30 victim surcharge.
His actions were slammed by council and trading standards bosses.
Angela Lomax, Bury council’s head of trading standards and licensing, said: “Refusing to transport an assistance dog is an offence and we will not tolerate such refusals unless the driver has a valid exemption certificate issued by the licensing service. We hope that the financial penalty imposed will deter any driver who may be minded to refuse passengers with assistance dogs.”
Councillor Judith Kelly, the council’s cabinet member for corporate affairs and regulatory services, said: “We are committed to an accessible public transport system in which disabled people have the same opportunities to travel as other members of society.”
Login
Register
FAQ
