Taxi Driver Online

Provided you do that with every fare you cannot be accused of discrimination

CC

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

Of course I do, I'm tight.

I believe that most councils issue guidance booklets to cabbies and ph and I seem to recall that in our guidance booklet it states that you CANNOT charge cuastomers for loading time be it shopping at the supermarket or a wheelchair

I think we all disagree, but! legislation says otherwise.

If only they realised that drivers will drive past because they see their duty to their families first and foremost. I have said this before, take an extreme day with a driver picking up say six wheelchair jobs! 5 mins loading, 5 mins unloading per job = 1 hour lost per day. To add insult to injury we have to pay 25K + to get these vehicles and someone running a saloon car who has paid 3/5K earns more

What I have not taken into consideration is that we are being used to sort out local transport failings "Deregulation", and we are also there to sort out social services failings

_________________
if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

5 minutes?

i bet the average is more

get the ramps out, push em in, strap em down, ramps away, load thier carer plus luggage....

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

You are right, I was just being conservative.............so to speak.

_________________
if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

When I was on a radio circuit, meter went on as soon you made contact with the customer. I.e. a wave though the curtains from the customer on an asps bookings, or at the per book time.

If you turn up early before the booking time you cannot start the meter before that.

Same applies for a non able bodied, but then you have to set up the ramps and clamps, loading / clamping all goes on waiting time.

Well on my vehicle it did 

used to hate crowded pubs

pull up, they werent outside, do you go in, do you not, when do you pull away, when do u put the clock on....

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

So you don't charge an able-bodied person time for loading up a wheelchair, so if you do the same with a disabled person then you must be discriminating?

I don't think the point is about when you activate the meter with a normal person, it's about the charges as a whole and the Act says that people shouldn't be disadvantaged because of their disability, so charging for loading a wheelchair is a no-no.

The argument being made by some in this thread seems to be that if a shop has to install ramps to comply with the Act then they could legitimately charge a wheelchair-bound person extra for a loaf of bread to pay for the ramp, which clearly wouldn't be acceptable.

I suspect the BTECers are correct.

_________________
Dundee rocks. Almost.

lol try what you preach



CC

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

If have to pick up a wheelchair bound person I don't charge them for the time it takes for them to get into the vehicle or for folding up and loading the said wheelchair in the boot of my vehicle

_________________
Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

If an able bodied person had a wheelchair to load, I would charge them for the time it took. Same goes for shopping, luggage and pushchairs.
No discrimination involved.
Refusing someone a freebie is not discrimination, expecting one on the strength of a disibility is.



It is about when you activate the meter. If you delay doing so for one group of people and don't do the same for others, it's discrimination - regardless of how well meaning it seems.


This would only be acceptable under the DDA if they charged everyone who used the ramp, disabled or not.

What you are missing is that the act requires equality of treatment, not positive discrimination.

Consider this also:
You are not hired until your meter is on, so if you load a wheelchair passenger before activating your meter, are they actually your customer at this point and are they covered by your insurance?



I suspect you and they may be wrong.

_________________

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

I wonder how we stand if the persons in a chair and has shopping to be loaded?

Hang it all on the handles then push them into the cab.

With attitudes like these is it any wonder there are so many drivers attacked by pi55heads who think they have been overcharged. If a fare would normally be say £5.00 and because they were a couple of minutes late getting into the car for whatever reason, if the driver chose to start the meter on arrival and the final fare came to say £6.50, well you can see the reason for an argument.

_________________
Grandad,