We have for many years spoken up on behalf of taxi users about the difficulties disabled people have experienced and we continue in our partnership working to try to improve the provision of taxis as an accessible means of transport for disabled people in our city.
Of particular concern is hearing about and witnessing the refusal of taxi drivers to pick up wheelchair users and people with accompanying support dogs. We saw this first hand at our Away Day last week when one of our trustees was refused a taxi for quite some time in front of several staff.
It is against the law to refuse to pick up wheelchair users and people with support dogs but drivers are either unaware of this legal obligation or do not understand the seriousness of such a refusal.
Despite our efforts and those of other organisations in the city who support vulnerable people , many staff and service users continue to tell us about the issues they face when trying to book a taxi. We are aware this is a long-standing, ongoing problem and are looking to collect evidence to see how we can help it be further addressed.
So we’re asking if you can help by completing and returning this form to let us know what your experiences have been of booking a taxi. Even if you have long given up booking taxis or accept the difficulties please let us know what’s happened when you make that call in the hope of getting to wherever you need to be. And please can you pass on this message to anyone you know who is having a similar poor experience, the more people we hear from , the better. Thank you.
