Taxi Driver Online

Can dogs go in taxis? Leicestershire companies reveal whether they allow pooches in their cars

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news ... er-5573044

Some have a blanket ban but all are legally required to accept guide and service dogs

With the weather set to be rainy and cloudy this weekend, many of us will opt for a taxi to get us where we need to be.

But if you own a dog and don't drive, it can be a tricky business.

Public transport is not not always a good fit for some dogs, who may become anxious travelling on a train or a bus - not to mention the problem of them needing to go to the bathroom on longer journeys.

Most people have to rely on a taxi service at some point, but travelling with your pet can raise some challenges.

That prompts the question about whether or not dogs are allowed in taxis and whether extra notice is needed.

Be it a black cab, private hire or Uber travel, we have investigated firms across Leicestershire to find out the latest rules for pooches in taxis.

Private Hire

Taking a dog in a private hire car can be tricky as many companies have their own rules and policies.

Of course, all private taxis are legally obliged to admit guide and service dogs under the Equality Act 2010.

The law states that drivers must carry a disabled person as well as their dog without any extra charge for the pooch.

For other passengers, taking a dog in a private hire taxi is at the discretion of the company and/or the driver.

Pet charity, Blue Cross advises that people ring up the company in advance to check whether they will allow your canine pal to travel.

Once more, taking a dog in a private hire vehicle is at the discretion of the company and/or driver.

The company might need to arrange a certain car or have policies depending on the size of the dog.

We asked a number of taxi firms in Leicestershire whether they will carry dogs.

• IFTE's Taxi, Loughborough say they only accept guide and service dogs in their cars.

• Everest Taxis, Leicester say some drivers will take dogs, but others may refuse. If a dog-friendly driver is available in the area you wish to travel, the company will do their best to arrange one.

• ADT Taxis, Leicester does not accept dogs in their cabs but of course, will accommodate guide dogs.

• Aylestone Taxis, Leicester say they do accept dogs and ask customers to ring up in advance to confirm.

Black cabs

Black cabs which you hail in the street can be difficult to rely on when if comes to travelling with your dog.

As passengers don't typically pre-book these kinds of cars, allowing dogs is at the driver's discretion.

The difficulty is that if you're trying to flag down a cab with your dog, the driver may not stop if they don't allow them. But if a driver spots you and stops, you can be assured they will let you travel.

At taxi ranks, the best option is to make your way down the queue and ask individual drivers.

City firm Leicester Black Cabs say if you flag one of their cars down, most drivers were certainly happy to take dogs.

A spokesperson added: "If you are having difficulty, just give us a call and we will arrange for you."

Uber

Much like black cabs, the decision to allow our furry friends into an Uber is down to the driver.

As it stands, the booking app does not give the option to inform or ask about allowing dogs to travel.

It is recommended that passengers book the journey as normal and then give the driver a call once the booking is confirmed, to check it's okay to take your dog.

Do you think drivers should be obliged to allow dogs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Interestingly, zero comments when I read the article, which looks like it was published around midday yesterday (ie more than 15 hours ago).


Although it may depend on whether it's a juicy enough run or not


Reminds me of quite an incident here a few days ago, which I drafted a post about, but decided not to post it until I'd spoken to the driver about what happened, but haven't seen him again, and don't really know him, to be honest.

But suffice to say, there was a bit of a ruckus, and I ended up taking the job, because it was an assistance dog.

But I dropped the passenger outside the police station (although he lived nearby), and from what I can gather the driver had dialled 999

But the punter claimed he'd phoned 101 at the same time

Anyway, don't know if anything's come of it. But maybe that's why I haven't seen the driver

That should have been the beginning, the middle and the end of the article.

One sentence, job done.

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IDFIMH

And how big the dog is.

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IDFIMH

yes my drivers have a rule little dog can sit on lap=OK 90 percent of the time

medium dog can sit in foot well=sometimes

Big dog=NO unless it's a £20 job then miraculously they will take the dog

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

That other piece about the Equality Act incident in London reminds me that we had a repeat performance of our own version last night.

The chap with the assistance dog must have been sitting in the car with the back door open (and the dog outside the car on a lead) for about 20 minutes before police arrived.

I was behind, and obviously couldn't hear everything that was said. But apart from a replay of the assistance dog stuff, also heard shouting about a 'hate crime', and face masks.

A few minutes before the police arrived the chap started lighting up a fag, which the driver obviously took exception to, thus more raised voices about that, but to be fair the chap got out of the car to smoke it.

Got a fare just after police arrived, so not sure what happened, but the same two taxis were still there when I got back, so I'm assuming the chap either walked, or more probably got a free lift home in the polis van - they were probably just going back up to the station, and he lives just round the corner anyway

But another driver said later that he'd pulled off when he saw the chap approaching with his dog, but the driver who was left in pole is quite new, so probably wouldn't have known what was about to happen.

By coincidence, the driver behind me (who's not a regular on this rank) was the one who was involved in the ruckus the other week, and who the chap with the dog phoned police about.

Managed a quick chat with that driver, and he said police say that he was within his rights to refuse this chap. Not sure precisely what the reasoning is, but it's something to do with his aggression, or similar.

But will have to find out the precise reasoning, because I don't want to take him if none of the other drivers are taking him, while I'm not really sure about the precise grounds for refusal.

Anyway, here's a videograb of the chap taking a photo of the car's numberplate. For obvious reasons I've blacked out his entire head and some markings on his top.

But you can just see that the dog's lead is marked 'assistance dog', and there's nothing to suggest it's not a legitimate assistance dog

Is he one of these "care in the community" bods and the dog is a companion dog ?

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

Is he one of those that doesn't wear a mask?

If so that's a reasonable reason to refuse. Other might be he has failed to pay in the past, or been abusive.

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IDFIMH

Thought I'd mentioned the passenger had said when I took him last time round that he had epilepsy (or at least that's how I recalled it) but that was in the longer draft back then which I decided not to post.

But the chap would be a few years older than me, but certainly looks fit and robust enough for his age, and looking at what I wrote a couple of weeks ago, there was either a threat of violence, or at least the driver thought he was in danger of violence, but I'm not 100% sure of that.

But the epilepsy is why he has the assistance dog, I think, and for what it's worth the dog is about as big and hairy as you'd get for an assistance dog. So certainly the type of dog that drivers would be inclined to refuse ordinarily, but presumably size and hairiness etc isn't an excuse for assistance dogs. But it's a 2.5 minute job, but if you had cloth seats you'd need to vacuum the car before using it again.

And I think part of the row about face masks was that the punter claimed he was exempt for medical reasons, and could just about hear and see him pulling out his exemption certificate, or whatever. And, while I could be wrong, sure I heard him accusing the driver of not wearing a mask, but not sure about that. Maybe the driver took it off temporarily, and was taken by surprise because the front driver pulled off when the punter and dog appeared.

So it's all a bit vague and uncertain. Could say a bit more about it all, but maybe best not to on a public forum

Probably said more than enough already, perhaps

aww... go on you know you want to tell us the juicy stuff


seriously though we have people round here who have lived on benefits their whole lives but think they should be treated better than everyone else and given priority; discounts and be allowed to be abusive to the drivers

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