Taxi Driver Online

Uber driver fined after refusing to let guide dog into car

An Uber minicab driver has been fined after he was filmed by a partially-sighted man refusing to take his guide dog.

Colin Perreira, from Hemel Hempstead, ordered the vehicle on the Uber app at Watford Junction to travel to his father’s house in Kings Langley on June 27. Driver Mohammed Hafiz Raja would not allow the assistance animal to travel in his car and left Mr Perreira behind on the pavement – despite a warning that this was against the law.

Transport for London brought the case before magistrates on 12 February.

Raja, from Watford, was found guilty of breaching the Equality Act and fined £850 plus costs. It was the fifth time Mr Perreira had taken a case to court, with each resulting in a successful conviction.

He told the BBC he wanted to make a stand for people ‘who are like me but who would not have that sort of confidence to do it, who would shy away and actually be very upset”‘. He added: ‘This is about me sticking up for my community, the guide dog owner community, the visually-impaired community and the wider disabled community.’

The driver did not attend the hearing or enter a plea at Westminster Magistrate’s Court but was fined and ordered to pay costs totalling £873, bringing the total amount to more than £1,700.

A spokesman for Uber stated it was ‘totally unacceptable’ for drivers to refuse to take a guide dog, saying they investigated every report. Any driver who is found to have refused a service animal will permanently lose access to the app, they added.

In June, a British Paralympic skiing champion was left ‘shaken’ and ‘humiliated’ after being banned from taking his guide dog into a Sainsbury’s store.

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IDFIMH

I wonder how many more similar stories we will see this year

100

500

or 1000000

yawn

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

Too many.

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IDFIMH

Video of the actual refusal in this article.

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/ ... r-watford/

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IDFIMH

From reading the twitter feed sounds like he's been given a warning by TFL as they don't revoke on a first offence. On the plus side he's got a £1700 bill to pay