Cabbies face action on refusing disabled
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/11/0 ... -disabled/
Taxi drivers in Shrewsbury who fail to pick up disabled people could face enforcement action which could even lead to them being prosecuted in court, a licensing chief warned today.
Carol Foster, licensing team leader (Central) for Shropshire Council, said that if any Hackney carriage driver had been found to have overcharged a disabled person or refused to pick them up, they could face serious consequences.
It comes after cerebral palsy sufferer Ian Pugh, from Coton Hill, hit out at the attitude of drivers and claimed he was often left housebound as no-one could pick him up. The 23-year-old’s condition affects the use of his limbs.
He claimed that he had encountered problems with some taxi drivers who he said were “unwilling” to do wheelchair work.
But Taffy Jones, chairman of the Shrewsbury Station Taxi Owners’ Association, today claimed that he had never heard of Mr Pugh before and said taxi drivers at his rank treated everybody the same, regardless of whether they had a disability or not.