Taxi Driver Online

'I have no legs mate': Amputee rages at Plymouth taxi shambles

A double amputee says he was left "feeling vulnerable" after being abandoned on the side of the road – three times.

John Thorner, 58, was visiting Plymouth for a friend's wedding and was expecting to have a stress-free weekend away.

But instead Mr Thorner, who uses a power wheelchair, was "appalled" at the city's taxi provision for disabled people.

He tried getting a taxi on three separate occasions during his weekend in the city – and was let down each time.

Now the former delivery driver, who had both his legs amputated after getting an infection in his foot while holidaying in Morocco, is calling for the situation to be improved.

"It's just absolutely shocking," said Mr Thorner, who lives on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. "I was left feeling really vulnerable.

"It makes me feel like I shouldn't be out after a certain time, but should be home in bed not enjoying myself.

"It wasn't a nice feeling."

The council says it never received a complaint from Mr Thorner but is prepared to "fully investigate" what went wrong.

Mr Thorner's friends' wedding was on Saturday, October 8, and the night before they had all gone for a meal at the China House at Sutton Harbour.

At approximately 10.30pm they decided to call it a night before the big day, and began calling around Plymouth taxi firms.

After hanging up on the fifth firm – and being told not one wheelchair friendly taxi was available – the groom-to-be offered to walk Mr Thorner and his wife back to his hotel on the Hoe.

"If I didn't have him with me I'd be a prime target for thieves," said Mr Thorner. "There's no way I'd be able to chase anybody."

After the wedding at the Plymouth Register Office on Saturday, the groom and bride had organised taxis for all of their guests to take them to Hyde Park Social Club for the reception.

But things went from bad to worse.

It wasn't a great weekend for John

"The taxi firm quoted the bride and groom £90 to take me to the social club," explained Mr Thorner, "each way.

"In the end we managed to book a taxi that would let me take my collapsible wheelchair on board, with my transfer board."

But it didn't end there.

The reception party finally wound up at about 1.30am and more taxis were waiting for the guests outside. To Mr Thorner's relief he spotted a Volkswagen Transporter waiting for him and his wife, Susan.

"But he didn't have a ramp," said the by-now exasperated party guest. "He told me I'd have to get in myself and I told him 'I'm not being funny mate, but I've got no legs'."

By this point the tired couple had nearly given up hope, when a Taxi First driver stopped to pick them up after being flagged down by Susan on the main road.

Mr Thorner said: "I want to thank that taxi driver personally. He didn't have to stop but he did, and luckily he had a ramp. He helped me into the cab and only charged us £10."

Despite what was a happy ending, Mr Thorner said the whole experience was "absolutely shocking".

He said: "In a city the size of Plymouth I found it unbelievable there wasn't a taxi available for me on a Friday night that was wheelchair accessible.

Councillor John Riley, the council's cabinet member responsible for licensing said: "We are extremely concerned to hear of the experience Mr Thorner whilst trying to use licensed taxis in the city.

"The taxi licensing team has not received a direct complaint from Mr Thorner in regards to this incident and we would urge him to contact us directly with more details so we can fully investigate.

"Plymouth City Council operates a 100 per cent wheelchair accessible hackney carriage fleet, so wheelchair users can reasonably access a licensed hackney carriage conveniently.

"A licensed hackney carriage driver must carry a wheelchair passenger, unless that driver has been granted a medical exemption on health grounds.

"All complaints we receive are fully investigated and the appropriate action taken, including prosecution if sufficient evidence exists that policy or conditions are breached."

Read more at http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/i-have- ... AL3dGAI.99

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

100% wheelchair accessible hackney fleet, 0% wheelchair Private Hire fleet, not much investigation is required.

What is the betting that it was saloon private hire vehicles and not taxis that were ordered? Or the motorised wheelchair was was to big or heavy to use a ramp safely?

_________________
Grandad,

many motorised wheelchairs are just too big and heavy to get in I used to find them either a nightmare or simply impossible to get up the ramps they need a special heavy duty and extra wide ramp and once inside it is nearly impossible to get the chair into a secureable position. One of the reasons i jacked the wheelchair work in was that I was getting presented with these behemoth's of chairs more and more often. Wheelchair users often forget that taxis are supposed to be firstly for the able bodied but also for the disabled but expect the trade to provide a specialist wheelchair vehicle that able bodied could also use and 99.9 % of them would choose not to

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Plymouth is 100% WAV for Hackney Carriages.

Though some PH Firms have one or two WAV's (some are Hackney's on their circuit) they tend to work Days and so are unavailable at night. Some have a WAV or two that are PH. One Firm charges £10.00 to use the vehicle as a "flagfall" then charges the same as they would for a saloon on top.

Only one Hackney firm in the City, so calling the others was probably a waste of time.

There is occasionally a problem with Taxis pulling off the Rank when a wheelchair approaches. But only at a Rank can it be a contravention of the 1847 Act, section 53.

There are some Drivers in Plymouth who happily deal with wheelchairs but they pretty much do not pay to be on circuits - I am one. The local disabled passengers get to know who their friends are and call them direct. I work days but put myself out to deal with regulars when they go out for the evening.

I have to agree with Edders, Wheelchairs get bigger and bigger and obviously heavier. To turn and secure them gets harder as a result. To the best of my knowledge the "Standard" wheelchair which must be carried by a WAV is still not defined. The closest I have found is what we would have called a wheelchair when we were kids, two large Bicycle wheels and two small wheels at the front. No motors or batteries. These go up channel ramps, no problem. Now I need a full width ramp as the low slung Battery grounds on channel ramps. I needed (and got) more space to turn big wheelchairs but it required getting an exemption to "Vehicle Conditions".

Somebody somewhere must make a sensible definition of a standard wheelchair and as a result the manufacturers of these chariots should identify their products as suitable or not suitable for Taxi transportation. I realise that everyone in a wheelchair is incensed when they are refused carriage, even if the refusal is because the wheelchair is two inches wider than the Taxi Door will open.

Stories like this will appear again and again. In truth there is no way I can think of that will make a Taxi have to turn up every time a disabled person wants one.

_________________
Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

That's my take on this too.

When we decided to put a WAV on we purposely decided on a very large vehicle with a tail lift that could accommodate absolutely every wheelchair that was going. Even though it was a private hire vehicle so we could charge what we liked, we always based the cost on the hackney table of fares. This was well publisised but in the 3 years we had the vehicle we had no more than 5 different customers for this service. Fortunately we could also use the vehicle as an 8 seat vehicle so at least we made our money that way.

_________________
Grandad,

Does shelling out £20K plus make it viable for you based on the amount of disabled people who used this service? No it doesn't.

Customers booking it as an 8 seater will not like it having rear facing seats especially for airport work which is far more economical than wheelchair work

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

It didn't have rear facing seats. It was a fooking great Renault Master that had 8 forward facing seats. One of these seats would fold away very cleverly to leave the tracks for securing a wheelchair in a forward facing direction with a 4 point floor securing system and a 3 point additional seatbelt to secure the passenger. It was very good.

_________________
Grandad,

My view is that people wanting an eight seater will take anything that seats eight.

Always tickle me how many people hate bigger vehicles until they actually need a bigger car, then they romp aboard.

_________________
IDFIMH

I have 15 years of EXPERIENCE with 8 seaters that says otherwise

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Aye..and the Guy couldnt get a Taxi.

ALLEGEDLY

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector