Taxi Driver Online

Leicester Mercury

October 29, 2007 Monday

'Can't she get out of chair'

A taxi driver refused to take a disabled passenger because he did not know how to operate his cab's ramps, a court was told.

Abdidahir Jibrie Jama (44), of Kashmir Road, St Matthews, Leicester, was fined £150 and ordered to pay £600 costs after pleading guilty to refusing to carry the passenger.

Ginny Torelli, prosecuting for Leicester City Council, told magistrates that Jama's cab was at the head of a queue of about 12 taxis outside the Haymarket shopping centre, in Leicester, on February 22.

A woman in an electric wheelchair, and her husband, approached the taxi.

Ms Torelli said: "Her husband asked the driver if he could get the ramps out. He replied 'can't she get out of the chair so she can get in?'.

"When he was told she could not, he immediately went to the taxi behind him, had a conversation with the driver, returned to his cab, closed the door and drove away, did a U-turn and went to the back of the queue."

Ms Torelli said the next taxi driver took the couple without any problems.

She said: "A few weeks later, they got in the same cab which had been driven by Mr Jama, this time with a different driver, and the wheelchair fitted without any trouble."

When interviewed on March 13, Jama initially claimed that when the incident had happened it had been rush-hour and he had already got a passenger in his cab.

He later changed his story to say he had not seen the woman in the wheelchair.

Jama had previously pleaded not guilty to the offence. Yakesh Tanna, for Jama, said his client had only been driving a Hackney carriage for two months and originally pleaded not guilty because he was "petrified about the repercussions of losing his badge".

He said: "He was not aware of the full mechanics of the ramp system, which was different from the cab in which he had been trained.

"Rather foolishly, he took another fare after refusing to take the disabled woman in the wheelchair.

" It was a stupid thing to do. If he had explained his difficulty with the ramp things could have been worked out."

Judge David Meredith said the offence was made more serious because it involved a disabled passenger - whose need to use a taxi was greater than most.

He said the offence cast doubts on Jama's fitness to hold a Hackney cab licence.

The judge told Jama: "The last-minute guilty plea entitles you to little, if any, reduction in fine and the penalty imposed may be only the start of your problems.

"You will have to persuade the local authority to renew your licence - and they may need some persuasion."
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Indeed.

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IDFIMH

Well I have some sympathy with the driver. These electric chairs can come in all shapes and sizes, and not all fit.

My Ramps are of the two single track type. A three wheeler simply does'nt fit. Even the later TX2's and TX4's single ramp's cannot accomodate every type of contraption that's on the market nowadays.

I'll always try, but sometimes a Minibus / Ambulance, with an industrial style tail lift / hoist is the only answer.

i wonder where the health and safety stand on these electric wheelchairs have they been crash tested it's not very nice to turn away a wheelchair user but i'm sure i once read about weight restrictions and type of chair........most WAVS are built to accomodate the traditional push chair..

I would imagine they would back you. If a chair, through it's design cannot be secured, then quite simply you can't take it.

We drive WAV's, not specially equiped Ambulance's.

That said, I suspect the story at the start of this thread applied to a basic wheelchair, with power.

It would be interesting if licensing was ever taken out of the hands of councils, the Government would be forced to make a decision on WAVs then, or there might not be any WAVS at all?

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

I suspect, given the current mob, that they would bow to the liberal left and we would all (PH included) have to have easy access / wheelchair friendly vehicles.

Fiat would be smiling.

I always remember when i first came into the game and drove an old FX4 .We had this high profile chap who would refuse to be clamped.

I was a bit wet behind the ears and used to take notice of him when he was adamant that he did not want to be clamped in!

Anyway,one day i was going around a roundabout and seen him dissapear from my rear view mirror with an almighty aarrrggghhhh .

These days i would refuse to carry a wheelchair user that refuses to be anchored.

Anyway to get a bit back to the topic,i agree with GBC that some wheelchairs are far too big to fit in certain cabs.And that includes LTIs as well,especially when the passenger is very tall and would not like a bang on the forehead as he is being pushed in the cab

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=z07K29Fc15U

The councils are quick enough to tell us that we should take wheelchairs, and they also stipulate the type of vehicles that should carry them in. But! as it is their choice and instruction, have they ever done a "Risk assessment" on the different types of wheelchairs plus the weight of different passengers? They would be quick enough to jump on us if something went wrong.

Also from a personal point of view I am still not happy re childrens pushchairs or prams, the mothers more often than not want to leave the children in them. I honestly do not think that they are securely anchored.

Again I would ask if they have done a risk assessment?

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

I think the study done by the Health and Safety mob in Edinburgh, thanks to Mr Skull and Mr Taylor, has helped no-end.

It gives stats on what angle of entry and what weight is ok, but more importantly says what isn't.

But we all know that the reason this mush didn't want the job was because he was/is a lazy ba****d.

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IDFIMH

I see what you mean sussex!!!

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=z07K29Fc15U

When confronted with a passenger in a wheelchair it is much easier to ask " do you need to travel in the chair ?" there is no offence taken then and you know if you need to get your ramps and equipment out but as GBC says not all electric chairs will go up the ramps or fit into the vehicle properly although the worst of the lot are the 3 wheeled shopmobility scooters

It does sound to me as if this particular driver was trying to avoid a difficult or complicated fare we have a similar problem with drivers who come up with all sorts of excuses if a short fare approaches them whilst on front rank and although there are 2 other vehicles in the town which are suitable for carrying wheelchairs I am the ONLY one who does both the other drivers deny that they have wheelchair access unless its a £10 or more fare !!!

can a driver refuse to push a passenger up the ramps , say due to a bad back, is it down to the carer to load the passenger. and are we covered by normal insurance to load a wheel chair passenger. one slip and they could be rolling down a hill..

If the driver has a bad back, should he be at work?

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Grandad,

most over 50 year olds who have been driving for 30 years for a living have a bad back..