'Reasonable' modifications!

Submitted by C Collyer (United Kingdom), Dec 9, 2008 at 07:18

To the person who provided the comment below,

'reasonable modifications' or 'reasonable adjustments' which is the UK standard can be difficult to define, however, often in the case of a visually impaired person with a guide dog getting into a taxi with an anti-dog driver, the driver will not even assist the person get into the cab behind for example, or even usually stay long enough to apologise - the minute the dog is seen, the taxi drives off.

I have been waiting for a taxi with a guide dog owning family member before now (both female) at 9.30pm in the pitch dark in the middle of winter in a grotty part of town, only to have the taxi driver turn up, see the dog and drive off saying 'no dog', despite me shouting the UK's disability discrimination act at him. Taxi firms often claim that that particular driver has 'allergies' when you ring to complain, but the driver should have documentation on them at the time if that is the case.

A taxi driver works with the public - if incapable of providing the service originally hired for, then they should no longer be allowed to practise.

I urge anyone affected by this issue to complain to your local licensing authority, and then complain and complain until it is followed up. You have 3 months (in the UK anyway) from the incident happening to put in a formal complaint, so do it! And thanks Daniel for documenting all this.

'I see so many comments about the Muslims following "our laws." And yet I know of no law that makes dogs a protected class. You're allowed to refuse service to any animal, for any reason, regardless of your reason. Isn't that what private business is all about?

Now, I agree it's a bad thing to do, and as an atheist, I see no logical reason to exclude dogs. Especially well-behaved ones such as guide dogs. Now, the Americans with Disabilities Act does require businesses to "make reasonable modifications" so as not to discriminate, but if another car is coming right behind you, that seems like a reasonable modification to me.'

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