Video: Watch moment PH driver refuses to give blind woman a lift because of her guide dog
Annie Giles-Quinn, from Collyhurst, recorded the moment the driver abandoned her outside a pub in the Northern Quarter
This is the moment a taxi driver sped off and refused to give a blind woman a lift - because she was with her guide dog.
Annie Giles-Quinn, from Collyhurst, was enjoying a night out with a friend in the Northern Quarter on Friday.
At the end of the night, she asked the landlord of The Wheatsheaf, on Oak Street, to call a private hire taxi to pick her up.
But when it arrived the driver refused to take her home because of Annie’s guide dog Mr Quinn.
It shows Annie asking him to wind his window down to talk to her, but the taxi driver suddenly reverses down the road and speeds off, almost running over her feet.
She eventually made it home after the landlord asked his barman to give her a lift.
Bosses of the taxi company involved, Club Cars, are now investigating and told the M.E.N. the driver will be immediately suspended once identified, pending the outcome of their investigation.
Annie, 61, said: “You just hope and pray it won’t keep happening. It is not just me it is happening to, it is happening all over the country.
“I have offered to go to these taxi companies to have a meeting and speak about guide dogs. When I talk to them they understand.
“I don’t like going out now when it is busy anymore because I dread the end of the night when I have to get a taxi home.”
Annie, who regularly appears as an extra on Coronation Street, does not want to blame all taxi drivers for the problem and said she often has good experiences.
She said: “Some taxi drivers do love Mr Quinn. Some of them absolutely love him and want to take a picture of him. When I have the time to explain to them and then they understand.”
Annie said she now plans to write a letter to her local MP to highlight the struggle blind people face.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act it is illegal for licensed minicab drivers to refuse to carry guide dog owners just because they are accompanied by their dogs.
But Annie says she faces a constant battle trying to persuade drivers to take Mr Quinn.
General manager of Club Cars Manchester, Gary Breegan, said he was looking into the incident, adding: “This is not something we condone, this lady should have been picked up.
“When I find out who the driver was he’ll be suspended immediately until we find out what’s happened. All customers need to be treated fairly and squarely. This customer should have been picked up.”
source:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... r-10592650
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