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Taxi turned guide dogs away
Wednesday 6th February 2008, 11:41AM GMT.
A blind couple who took a taxi firm to court for refusing to pick them up with their guide dogs said today they hoped the case would stop the same thing happening to anyone else.
Paul and Susan Nicholls, of Great Barr, have also pledged to give the £100 compensation awarded to them to charity Guide Dogs for The Blind following the prosecution against taxi firm ABS Aldridge.
A member of staff at the Walsall firm refused to pick the couple and their dogs, Robin and Valda, up from their daughter Helen’s wedding reception at the Masonic Lodge in Aldridge. He also tried to charge them more than double the usual fare for a minibus.
Company boss Sunil Dad, of Miner Street, had made attempts to find out who had answered the call last June but failed, Walsall Magistrates Court heard yesterday. Mr Dad admitted contravening section 31A of the Disability Act and was ordered to pay a total of £665 in fines, costs and compensation in the first.
Mr and Mrs Nicholls, both 58 and blind from birth, said they did not want anyone else to be treated as they had been.
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Good on them! Another case of taxi drivers trying to rip people off, though this time trying to do it because they are blind firmly puts them in the ‘Prize Slimeball’ category.
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Paul and Susan successfully prosecuted because their particular disability is self-evident to those around them.
However, spare a thought for people with Asperger’s Syndrome (an autistic condition that renders sufferers unable to convey or understand body language), who suffer discrimination every day on account of their strange mannerisms or bumbling appearance, which frequently makes other people wary or suspicious of them. There are 200,000 sufferers in the UK who often endure a lifetime of bullying and rejection on account of their disability – even though many of them are highly intelligent individuals.
One of my missions as Dudley MBC’s ‘Autism Champion’ is to help make people more aware of this little understood condition and the terrible mental anguish that it causes those whom it affects (and to hopefully spread a little compassion and understanding towards them amongst the wider community). For more information, visit http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=212.
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Why were they refused..’cultural’ grounds? I can’t help but wonder that, had this been the other way round and race were involve, i.e. refusing to take people on the grounds they were Asian, that this case would have been all over the national press.
I’d also like to state that this is not the only case involving the apparent persecution of disabled people, should they choose to use the services of a taxi firm. Why couldn’t the person responsible be traced..isn’t that against the law?
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The Local Autyhority should Withdraw the taxi licence. and stop them trading as they are not fit and responsible to hold a licence, the balls in your court local authority!
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I think it is bloody disgusting that taxi’s turn guide dogs away,because they are makeing disabled people suffer there money is as good as anyone elses.
And £665 that is nothing,compared to what a disabled person gets a month,he should have been fined a far lot more than that and made to take disabled people at half price or even for free for a whole year.
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yay about time people stand up to bad taxi drivers and there rip off charges.
great to see how caring Paul and Susan Nicholls are by giving £100 to the guide dogs charity. maybe taxi drivers should try giving to charity once in a while seeing as they take so mutch of our money and spend it on ladys of leisure drink and fags. sometimes it goes on taxi repair. “not often”
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now this rip off abs taxi firm as been fined everyone in the area should boycott them,and use other local taxis,at last a bit of commonsence in the courts,abs should be ashamed of them selfs it could have been one of there family members,how would they like that treatment 1-0 to the goodys at last.
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