Taxi Driver Online

Linda Duff has accused some cabbies of "sheer laziness" after she and daughter Claire (20) were forced to make their own way back from the city centre last Thursday after taxi drivers failed to pick them up.

Mrs Duff, who lives in Clepington Street, believes drivers purposefully ignored her requests for a pick up after noticing Claire, who has cerebral palsy, in her wheelchair.

Despite encountering many good drivers over the years, Mrs Duff said she has endured problems of getting taxis to stop for her and her daughter.

She believes many have simply claimed to be wheelchair friendly as a means of gaining a licence, and feels as though some drivers view disabled passengers as an inconvenience.

She said, "You couldn't believe the difficulties we have getting someone to take us. They shouldn't be on the road.

"It's an electric wheelchair and we can't get it on the bus. They all jumped on the bandwagon with wheelchair-capable taxis as a way of getting their badges. It's sheer laziness."

The mother and daughter had been at a conference at the Queen's Hotel, making a brief trip into town to pick up some shopping before travelling home.

When a booked taxi failed to arrive, Linda and Claire, a student at Dundee College, then headed to the bus station to hail a car at the adjacent rank. However, Linda said numerous drivers claimed to have booked jobs lined up, picked up other waiting customers, or simply drove on.

Tired

After growing tired of the wait, they eventually made their way through the city, an hour and a half after attempting to catch their first taxi.

Linda added, "Normally Claire would have been at college but we decided to go to the Partners in Advocacy event and go into town afterwards. I encourage Claire to go out — always have done — but a lot of the time disabled people are treated like second-class citizens."

The chairman of Dundee licensing board committee expressed his concern, adding that such behaviour from drivers would not be tolerated if found to be true.

Urging any disabled person who feels they may have been ignored by an operator deliberately to come forward, Councillor Rod Wallace said, "It's extremely disappointing to hear this. The whole movement has to look at the Disability Discrimination Act and have recognition of a disabled person's needs.

"We often get people singing the praises of our drivers and we don't want a few bad apples to ruin that. It's unfortunate that the lady didn't get the details of the taxis as action could have been taken.

"It's part of the taxi driver's licence that they pick up disabled passengers. If people are experiencing this then we need to know and there is a process that we can go through."


http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Dundee ... chair.html

Dundee Taxi Association chief says some wheelchairs are just too big to carry
The size and weight of some modern wheelchairs is making it difficult for taxi drivers in Dundee to pick up disabled passengers, a body representing cabbies in the city has claimed.

Dundee Taxi Association (DTA) admits that some vehicles in the city have problems with accommodating large wheelchairs and have even caused one driver to injure himself when trying to secure one.

Tony Waters, secretary of the DTA, made the admission after The Courier reported that Dundee mother Linda Duff said she had been ignored when trying to hail a taxi for herself and her disabled daughter Claire, who uses an electric wheelchair to get around.

Mrs Duff and Claire (20) had to make their own way back to their Clepington Street home from the city centre last month after failing to secure a lift, with Linda claiming many simply did not want the hassle of a disabled passenger.

Responding to the article, Mr Waters said the body has conducted investigations into the claims, concluding that some vehicles in the city's taxi fleet are simply not capable of dealing with modern wheelchairs.

In a letter to The Courier, he said, "The Dundee Taxi Association were concerned about the lady's complaint in The Courier so we carried out some inquiries to see if we could root out the bad apples.

"During our inquiries, one of our members told us that the lady in question has a wheelchair that is too big and too heavy to be safely transported in his type of taxi.

"The problem is because of the size and weight it is not easily turned or safely secured. The driver has tried to turn the electric wheelchair manually and hurt himself in doing so and was off work for seven days.

The driver has made the cabs officers aware of this and they again iterated that if a wheelchair is too big and cannot be safely secured, it should not be transported.

"If the driver was to take a wheelchair passenger that was not strapped in properly he would be in trouble and breaking the law."

Mrs Duff has said that the size of Claire's wheelchair does make access to buses difficult.

Mr Waters added that the sheer bulk of some wheelchairs makes access hard on certain taxis, and fears other disabled passengers may also suffer unless certain kinds of vehicle are requested.

He added, "Unfortunately until there is a vehicle out there that fits all we are going to have these disturbing complaints.

"If the lady in question has been able to travel in a larger taxi she should take note of what type it is and request one from an office or look for one of these vehicles on the rank.

"Our chairman and the driver would be prepared to speak to the lady in question to explain the situation."

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Dundee ... carry.html

One of our members has also told us that the lady in question will not get in a wheelchair accessible doblo. The driver that hurt his back has a tx .

I don't do electric wheelchairs. End of.

so you do a half shift and dont do electric wheelchairs


yet complain that not enough is done to seve the publucs needs


just shows your selfishness

Is a tx built to take an electric wheelchair?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

NO, but E7 can depending how big

We hould remember that when WAV policis were adopted by councils, NO account was taken of the Health and Safety Executive.

Councils implemented the policy because it was politically expedient to do so.

No account was taken of the needs or dignity of the passengers, no account was taken of the Health and Safety of the drivers.

The whole gig is a complete balls up.

ive taken electric wheelchairs in the TX2s and TX4s ive driven

yes sometimes the carpet gets a wee snag but its not too hard to put back in

In the correct manor???? not sideways on

yes - thats how the carpets get snagged sometimes as they reverse into position

All wheelchairs should be carried forward facing.

shame its week 2

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

o really?

every wheelchair passenger faces rearwards

go look at your TX handbook

they teach you this at the wheelchair loading modules also

Don't think Jasbar drives an E7

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