Taxi Driver Online

Some of the stuff in here

Thing is, it's one of those article where there's a grain of truth to everything in it, but if you actually examine it in detail, a lot of it is just bull


Getting taxis in Cardiff an ‘absolute trial’ says wheelchair user

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/ ... hair-user/

A WHEELCHAIR user has described getting a taxi in Cardiff as an “absolute trial” after being forced to travel over a mile to get a wheelchair-friendly vehicle.

Glyn Jones, from Fairwater, attempted to hire a wheelchair-accessible taxi on Easter Sunday to take him home from a friends house in Grangetown, only to be told there were none available.

“I needed to be back home in Fairwater by 10pm in order for my carer to be able to get me ready for bed,” he said.

“I rang to organise a taxi and was told by every operator that there were none available, that they had no accessible taxis on duty at all.”

“The responder at Dragon Taxis told me they didn’t have any wheelchair-accessible cabs available. I said, ‘look, why do you have a licence if you’ve never got any taxis available?”

After trying for “a good few hours” to book a wheelchair-accessible taxi, Mr Jones says he was forced to travel a mile down Corporation Road in his wheelchair to a local pub.

There, he found “seven or eight taxis in the taxi rank outside- and the first one in the queue had wheelchair access and a Dragon Taxis logo on the side.”

The National contacted Dragon Taxis for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Mr Jones told the National that the lack of accessible taxis nearly made him miss his evening appointment with his carer, and could have seen him forced to sleep overnight in his wheelchair at his friend’s house.

“I thought was going to have to stay the night in my friend’s living room, that I was going to have to sleep in my wheelchair and leave the dog at home on his own,” he said.

“I don’t understand why these companies aren’t able to guarantee that people in wheelchairs can get a taxi. It’s not something you get in any other city- in London, every single taxi is accessible for wheelchair users.”

Since 2017, taxi and private hire vehicle providers operating wheelchair-accessible vehicles in England, Wales and Scotland have been legally obliged to transport wheelchair users.

Those who refuse to do so can face fines of up to £1,000 and risk having their licence suspended.

Despite this, Mr Jones says he gets refused taxi rides by drivers of wheelchair accessible cabs “all the time”, even when there are taxi marshals on duty.

“There have been times where I’ve had the marshals ask four different wheelchair-accessible taxis to take me and they’ve all refused.”

“It’s like the wild west out there. It’s an absolute trial trying to get a taxi as a wheelchair user in Cardiff.”

Cardiff Council has a complaints process for people with disabilities who wish to complain about taxi drivers or providers. However, Mr Jones says the process takes too long and is too complex to be effective.

“They have to schedule a hearing at the licencing committee, which meets once a week. You arrive at 9am in the morning and if you are not first up you might be there until noon.

“I was there one day for four hours - It actually just puts you off reporting it.”

Think Cardiff HCs are mixed saloon/WAV, and I'd assumed Dragon's a PH operator, but probably mainly PH, with some HCs.

Anyway, doubt that the fact he found a ranking WAV with a Dragon logo on the side really tells us much

(Had a look on StreetView to see if the rank would provide any illumination, but couldn't find it.)


Yes, I'm sure it's easy to get an HC to pick you up at home in London. And they'll probably charge you an arm and a leg for doing so...


Spectacularly missing the point. Plenty big vehicles here in St Andrews, but not sure if there are any specific WAVs at all. But pretty sure there's zero legal obligation to have any.


So you get in touch with the council with a complaint, and that means you'll end up waiting hours at a council office waiting to be called before the licensing committee?

Misrepresents the bog standard complaints procedure, I suspect.

In fact, anyone reading that would be put off even contacting the council to complain if they think it's going to end up at a committee hearing

One of the first things our licensing team say to someone wanting to complain is "Are you prepared to go to court?"

_________________
Grandad,

Thought this was a differnent case initially, but it's just the same article with a lot more detail


'It's discrimination', wheelchair user describes struggle of getting an accessible taxi in Cardiff

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wale ... s-23810149

He claims three private hire firms and several hackney carriages were unable to take him home to his carers

A wheelchair user who was claims he was denied an accessible taxi by three different private companies and several hackney carriage drivers has said that Cardiff’s taxis will do “anything they can to refuse a wheelchair.”

Glyn Jones was visiting his friends in Grangetown for lunch on Sunday, April 17 and needed to get a taxi home by 10pm in time for his carers’ visit. Mr Jones has multiple sclerosis and needs his carers’ help to get into bed. He requires a wheelchair-friendly taxi as he cannot transfer in and out of his motorised wheelchair.

But he said after ringing three private hire taxi companies at 8:30pm he was told that he could not book a wheelchair-friendly taxi, and it was unlikely that any would become available that evening. He said: “When I was on the phone to Dragon Taxis I asked how they were able to operate with no wheelchair taxis available. Wasn’t it against their licensing conditions?

“The woman told me no, there were no licensing conditions because their drivers are all self-employed.” Cardiff Council is responsible for licensing hackney carriages (taxis that can be hailed from the street) and private hire cars (which have to be pre-booked).

Mr Jones said that he has also been turned away for the same reason by hackney carriages. He said: “This goes into the problem with Cardiff taxis full-stop. They will do anything they can to refuse a wheelchair. I think taxi drivers look at me and think: ‘He’s in a wheelchair, he’ll only want to go around the corner, that’s not worth the trouble’ – particularly on a bank holiday weekend, when everyone’s out and about.

"Even when the taxis are equipped for wheelchairs you get the common excuse of ‘I have stuff stored in the back’ or ‘the ramp isn’t working’ – then you shouldn’t be on duty.”

After failing to find a private hire cab, Mr Jones’ friends went to several taxi ranks but said they couldn’t find a driver of a wheelchair-friendly taxi who would leave the rank to pick him up from the Grangetown flat. After failing to find a taxi to pick him up, Mr Jones said: “I had to message the carers to say I would be late and ask them to wait for me to get back before they left. Then we decided the only way to do it was to leave my friends’ house and trudge down to Mermaid Quay for me to pick up a taxi off the rank in my wheelchair, if there was one available.”

Mr Jones eventually found a wheelchair-friendly Dragon Taxis car, despite being told over the phone that none were available. He said: “I got home late and fortunately the carers were still there.

“But it makes me feel really f**ing s*it to be honest with you. To be about to turn around and say: ‘No, we have no taxis for people like you’ – regardless of what the ‘you’ is, skin colour, gender or anything – it's discrimination and it sucks.”

Private hire vehicles can legally refuse a fare and can only carry drivers on pre-booked journeys, the council’s Licensing team will investigate complaints about hackney carriage drivers who refuse a fare without reasonable excuse (which is an offence), or private hire drivers or vehicles which do not meet your expectations.

But Mr Jones said, having tried to make an appeal before: “I’ve given up complaining to the council because the problem is so onerous.”

“Myself, my friend and her husband would need to make a statement to the Licensing Committee. They only meet once a week, for one morning. You’re told to arrive at 9am on Tuesday and you’re in the queue waiting for stuff to be done. I’ve been there before when I’m still waiting at 2pm.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “The Council recognise the frustration for any member of the public who is unable to hire a vehicle adapted to their needs. It would, however, be unfair to comment on allegations against particular drivers or individual private hire operators without an opportunity to speak to the complainant and investigate the facts further.

“It is the case that there is a national shortage of taxi and private hire drivers due to drivers choosing not to return to the trade following the Covid-19 pandemic. The Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA) estimates the industry is short of 160,000 of the previously 300,000-strong workforce.”

The council spokesperson added: “In relation to Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV’s), all Hackney Carriage Vehicles (as opposed to private hire vehicles) on licence plate number 401 and above issued in Cardiff are wheelchair accessible. Cardiff will have a higher proportion of wheelchair accessible vehicles in their licensed fleet than most others in Wales, so it would be unfair to highlight issues in Cardiff without referencing the picture in Wales as a whole.

“There is no similar power available to the Council to mandate WAV in relation to private hire vehicles, this would require new legislation to be introduced, which is outside of the Council control.”

To claims about the complaints procedure, a council spokesperson said: "In order to investigate a complaint and successfully prosecute a taxi driver for an offence, the Council must the follow the rules and codes of practice required by any criminal investigation. This will include taking statements from complainants which can be used in evidence. Whilst it is helpful for complainants to provide a general description of the driver, we will investigate a complaint with only a vehicle registration or plate number.

“In relation to drivers reported to the Public Protection Sub Committee, the Sub-Committee meet once a month to consider the fitness and propriety of drivers that have been involved in alleged wrongdoing. Each disciplinary meeting is given an allotted time slot and attendees are asked to attend at this time. There may be times where cases overrun but witnesses are generally not waiting longer than an hour. All witnesses are also given the option of attending the meeting remotely via Microsoft Teams so there is no requirement to attend in person for disciplinary matters.”

The spokesperson also pointed out: “We carry out mystery shopper investigations specifically targeting drivers that refuse fares. For instance, we recently carried out a mystery shopper investigation with assistance from members of the public who were registered blind, tackling the issue of drivers refusing to accept guide dogs.”

Capital Cabs, Premier Taxis and Veezu, the company that operates Dragon Taxis, have been approached for comment but have not offered a response.

So that must be about 2,000 words in total and, unless I missed it, that important little detail wasn't even mentioned in the first piece, and is just brushed over in the second piece, to the extent that all but us anoraks wouldn't consider it important.

Would any licensing councillor, for example, notice its significance?

It must be an absolute nightmare for folks like this.

Yes he has a motorised chair, and they can't be loaded in all WAVs, but there has to be a way for folks like this fella to be supported.

All he wants to do is go home to bed FFS. Is that really asking too much?

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IDFIMH

Why didnt he book the cab that took him their to take him back later? and If there are no Wavs available it's most likely that they were busy elsewhere, having a Taxi licence does not mean you have an infinite number of vehicles to hand.