Taxi Driver Online

There was a thread last year with a couple of articles about the lack of WAV provision in Angus:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35053&p=395806


‘There was quite a few days of frantic searching’: Lack of wheelchair accessible taxis in Angus forces family to spend £110 to attend funeral

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... d-funeral/


Image: DC Thomson/The Courier

A wheelchair-bound Arbroath man was forced to fork out more than £100 to attend his wife’s funeral because of the lack of provision in the county.

The McDonald family were faced with “days of frantic searching” when they were told the only suitable taxi in the Arbroath area would not be available.

Staff at Balhousie Antiquary, Arbroath, helped the family secure a taxi from Brechin, but it came with the eye-watering price tag of £110.

Independent councillor Lois Speed relayed the family’s plight at an Angus Council civic licencing committee meeting last week.

Councillors on the committee approved the appointment of consultants to assess the “extent and nature” of unmet needs in Angus.

The local authority agreed to press both Holyrood and Westminster for extra cash to help taxi operators put more disability-friendly vehicles on the road at a full Angus Council meeting late last year.

Across the whole county there are just seven taxis that provide wheelchair accessibility.

David McDonald requires a wheelchair to get around after suffering a stroke.

His wife, Doreen, passed at the age of 81 in September last year after battling dementia and breast cancer.

Daughter Brenda, 55, said: “We began planning for my mum’s funeral and knew we would have to get dad to the crematorium somehow.

“We then found out the one driver with a suitable car in the area had to get his taxi off the road for work to be done.

“The staff at the care home were brilliant and one knew someone who had a car that would suit, but it was in Brechin.

“I called the council and they said there was no one else in the zone to help, so I had to pay for the Brechin driver to come through.

“It was quite expensive but that didn’t matter in the end, we had to get dad to the funeral.

“There was quite a few days of frantic searching.”

Ms Speed said: “As you could imagine, not only were this family grieving but these emotions were compounded and exasperated by the fact that Mr McDonald may not get to say his final goodbyes to his wife.

“This is the reality of the issue and barriers that disabled people face day in day out.”

Brechin to Arbroath is 14 miles, so £110 sounds quite a lot. However, I'm assuming the crematorium referred to is the one at Friockheim, so that's another six miles from Arbroath, and back, of course.

And maybe he was also taken to the wake and/or other toing and froing, and waiting around, so the £110 has to be seen in that context.

(I wonder why it's taken five months or so to bury the lady?)


Well that'll help - the article tells you all you need to know.

I wonder what the consultants' fee might be better spent on?

(I know the area quite well - Brechin is effectively my home town. In fact my own mother died in Brechin a couple of years ago and she was cremated at Friockheim. We got a family funeral limo from Brechin to the crematorium, although I've not a clue what that cost.)

I suspect the consultants' fees could have paid could have paid for at least 4 WAVs across the county.