Taxi Driver Online

MILES BETTER NEWS AGENCY

DO NOT LICENSE REAR LOADING WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE TAXIS SAYS THE NATIONAL TAXI ASSIOCIATION

The National Taxi Association, which represents all taxi associations across the UK, has called upon all Licensing Authorities to adopt a policy of refusing in future to license any Hackney Carriages which are adapted for disabled passengers where the wheelchair is loaded from the rear of the vehicle.

Norman Deegan, chairman of the NTA, says in a letter sent recently to the UK’s licensing authorities, “We see this as a safety critical issue for both drivers and passengers and despite previous concerns expressed by the NTA and other taxi user groups, many authorities have ignored the issue and still continue to license rear loading vehicles.”

Deegan continued, “It is the rationale of the Disability Discrimination Act that disabled passengers should be able to hail the first available taxi, wherever that may be. This means that loading would invariably not be at taxi ranks hence the dangers of loading from the rear makes the point that we seek to bring home all the more trenchant.”

“We understand that other vehicles adapted for private use or vehicles utilising tail lifts will be rear loading. However, for Hackney Carriages operating from a side loading rank this is a completely different issue. There is now a wide range of side loading accessible taxis available in the market place so it is simply not necessary to license rear loading vehicles.”

He added that the safety issues concerning rear loading taxis had been raised in the House of Parliament as an Early Day Motion by Andrew Rosindell, MP for Romford, and other safety organisations such as RoSPA, the Spinal Injuries Association and RADAR had also expressed reservations about the use of rear loading taxis.

SATA, the Scottish Accessible Transport Alliance, in their new campaign for affordable and accessible taxi and private hire vehicles, states that all new and transferred licenses for Hackney Carriages should be for side-loading wheelchair accessible vehicles.

And to emphasise the issue, actress Kim Tserkezie, the star of BBC children’s programme Balamory, has called for rear-loading taxis to be banned from carrying wheelchair users after she was recently left with extensive injuries in an accident. Kim was thrown out of her wheelchair and onto the floor of the vehicle when it stopped suddenly, fracturing her knee when she hit the floor. She also pulled ligaments and suffered severe cuts and bruising and was in plaster for seven weeks.

“For wheelchair users, I do not think rear-loading taxis or MPVs are a safe option and they should not be allowed to be used,” said the 32-year-old mother of one, who plays Penny Pocket in the hit kids’ TV show.

Some of the safety issues concerning rear loading taxis for wheelchair users include : the degrading and dangerous situation for a wheelchair passenger having to be loaded into the vehicle from the gutter, not the pavement; the safety from other road users whilst the passenger and driver are in the road not on the pavement during loading and unloading process; the securing and safety of a wheelchair and its passenger in the vehicle; fitment of suitable seat belts for wheelchair passengers; the efficiency of airbags providing protection for the passenger; protection for the wheelchair passenger in the event of a rear end collision to the rear loading taxi; getting wheelchair passengers out of a rear loading taxi if the rear load area is damaged; and the ability for the rear ramps to be locked into a stowage position after use so they are not able to move and hit the passenger or driver if the taxi is involved in an accident.


Miles Better News Agency

What happened to councils know best? lol. Isn't this press release old hat, I thought we discussed this weeks ago?



Does it really?

I wasn't aware the NTA represented all Taxi associations across the UK. Even the ones in Scotland and Northern Ireland? Perhaps Mr Deegan or Mr Wayne Casey should get their facts right before they start pontificating who they represent. I wonder just how many Taxi associations are actually affiliated to this mob?



There are many councils who will not license rear end wavs because of the perceived safety aspect but that is for councisl to decide.

Last I heard Mr Deegan drove a Saloon in restricted Bedford, its a bit rich this guy telling councils what not to license. The majority of taxi associations affiliated to the NTA don't want wheelchair accessible vehicles.

In April last year Mr Deegans Bedford voted to issue 10 new licenses to purpose built vehicles, probably because there was no movement in that direction from the Taxi saloon owners? They plan to look at the unmet demand situation in April or May this year.

Needless to say Bedford have an out of date survey, so something has to give?

Regards

JD

So on the advice of the NTA 100's of councils are going to scrap all there rear loading WAV's as well ? if it's not safe for a taxi/PH driver it cant be safe for anyone else can it.
It's miss guidance like this that leads to councils not taking the real issues seriously.

As someone who operates a few rear loading WAV's I would like to comment.

We have never been hailed for a wheelchair job.

We invariably pick up our wheelchair users from adapted areas at their homes. These are all designed with rear loading vehicles in mind.

If these vehicles are unsafe, surely they should be campaigning for them to be banned altogether, not just as taxis.

In a TX1, to safely secure the chair you have to push the chair up the ramp and then turn it 90%. From what I am told this is a difficult task and chances of a driver injuring himself doing this are far greater than where he has to push the chair straight up the ramp, into its position.

With any vehicle it is important that a driver secures the chair and passenger correctly.

Finally. Not one wheelchair on the market is approved as 'safe for use in transit'. So really if we are being safety conscious we should refuse to carry all wheelchair using passengers.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

As someone who operates a few rear loading WAV's I would like to comment.

We have never been hailed for a wheelchair job.

We invariably pick up our wheelchair users from adapted areas at their homes. These are all designed with rear loading vehicles in mind.

If these vehicles are unsafe, surely they should be campaigning for them to be banned altogether, not just as taxis.

In a TX1, to safely secure the chair you have to push the chair up the ramp and then turn it 90%. From what I am told this is a difficult task and chances of a driver injuring himself doing this are far greater than where he has to push the chair straight up the ramp, into its position.

With any vehicle it is important that a driver secures the chair and passenger correctly.

Finally. Not one wheelchair on the market is approved as 'safe for use in transit'. So really if we are being safety conscious we should refuse to carry all wheelchair using passengers.

_________________
A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Can someone just confirm to me that 99.9% of all non-taxi WAVs are rear entry?

If so, then why are the NTA picking on their own? FFS.

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IDFIMH