Plain Talker Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If I was a taxi driver why would I purchase a vehicle and ramps if I'm not gonna be paid extra? I suppose that it's debatable your quote saying they take the Mickey on getting the ramps out, but if it does take time then surely they should be paid for it. I'm fortunate to be able bodied so I don't need a vehicle carrying ramps and don't need that driver to help me into the taxi. It is an unfortunate issue, but I feel it's not the taxi companies fault or the actual Driver, again the extra cost should be funded out of disability allowance. a) Yes you are extremely fortunate not to suffer discrimination against you. Others of us aren't so lucky... Try reading that sentence back but exchange the concept to "I'm going to charge my customers extra for having an entrance to my shop that's not stepped" and see how wrong it is. b) What rubbish. As I said, a disabled person should not have to pay a premium for the same services as an able bodied person. That's the law c) All new hackney carriages (black-cabs) have to have wheelchair ramps these days. it's the law d) Until you have actually experienced drivers of hackney carriages doing this, you probably aren't qualified to speak. It was a very common scam of certain hackney carriage drivers, to knock up as much waiting time as possible both boarding and exiting the cab. It was an issue brought before the taxi licensing people on a number of occasions by various people who had been discriminated against. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathAxe Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If you want special access, then shouldn't you be paying for the special access? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 It's not special access, it's equal access. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qualtrough Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 You should pay for the vehicle you need. It would be patronising to say otherwise. If it costs more then that's what the DLA is for. It's not the job of a business to take customers who make them operate at a loss, that's charity. Do you want disabled people to be charity cases? As for the faffing around argument, unless you're a mind reader I don't see how that can be proven. It sounds like victimhood to assume you're being fiddled because a ramp the driver uses rarely takes time to assemble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claire_ Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 It's not special access, it's equal access. Yes its equal access but its through special measures that cost more money and time for the taxi driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altus Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If I was a taxi driver why would I purchase a vehicle and ramps if I'm not gonna be paid extra? I suppose that it's debatable your quote saying they take the Mickey on getting the ramps out, but if it does take time then surely they should be paid for it. I'm fortunate to be able bodied so I don't need a vehicle carrying ramps and don't need that driver to help me into the taxi. It is an unfortunate issue, but I feel it's not the taxi companies fault or the actual Driver, again the extra cost should be funded out of disability allowance. If time getting ramps out is on the meter as waiting time the driver will be being paid. If they weren't getting any more money there wouldn't be any incentive for them to deliberately take their time - quite the opposite. ---------- Post added 14-01-2014 at 16:29 ---------- Yes its equal access but its through special measures that cost more money and time for the taxi driver. And that's part of the cost of running a business - under the DDA you have make 'reasonable adjustment' for disabled people and you can't charge more for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 b) What rubbish. As I said, a disabled person should not have to pay a premium for the same services as an able bodied person. That's the law. I agree, but you're getting an extra service (putting up ramps) that abled bodied people do not get; are you saying you should get that extra service for free? If I was to have the taxi driver stop and fiddle around with ramps or whatever, I'd think it only fair that I pay for his time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claire_ Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If time getting ramps out is on the meter as waiting time the driver will be being paid. If they weren't getting any more money there wouldn't be any incentive for them to deliberately take their time - quite the opposite. ---------- Post added 14-01-2014 at 16:29 ---------- And that's part of the cost of running a business - under the DDA you have make 'reasonable adjustment' for disabled people and you can't charge more for it. But what is reasonable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 a) Yes you are extremely fortunate not to suffer discrimination against you. Others of us aren't so lucky... Try reading that sentence back but exchange the concept to "I'm going to charge my customers extra for having an entrance to my shop that's not stepped" and see how wrong it is. b) What rubbish. As I said, a disabled person should not have to pay a premium for the same services as an able bodied person. That's the law c) All new hackney carriages (black-cabs) have to have wheelchair ramps these days. it's the law d) Until you have actually experienced drivers of hackney carriages doing this, you probably aren't qualified to speak. It was a very common scam of certain hackney carriage drivers, to knock up as much waiting time as possible both boarding and exiting the cab. It was an issue brought before the taxi licensing people on a number of occasions by various people who had been discriminated against. i was pointing out if I was going to be a taxi driver working through such as City Cars or Excel why should I buy a specially adapted car that's going to cost me more to purchase ? Can you not ask for more money from whoever pays disability allowance to cover extra charges? I agree if a driver deliberately taking time so the meter adds more is wrong, so maybe a small extra charge to cover the time and handling of ramps and wheelchairs to make it fair to the driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrence Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I think the charging premium is due to them having a wheelchair friendly car which presumably costs more to purchase and run than a standard saloon. It's just a cost to the business for meeting their obligations under the Equalities Act (which replaced the DDA). The Act would apply to all taxi companies and thus is fair to all. It's quite normal for a business to spend some revenue from able-bodied customers on making reasonable adjustments to accommodate their disabled customers. The owner of the taxi company has done a Ratner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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