I read the article on the website Free West Media which cites a Tyrolean newspaper report as the source.
The meat of the story is that local taxi drivers are refusing to carry BLIND or VISUALLY CHALLENGED people accompanied by their GUIDE DOGS.
And this even when taxi rides have been booked in advance.
A refusal to do ones job for 'religious reasons' appears to be an increasing problem in Innsbruck where 80% of taxi drivers are Muslims; a religion which teaches that dogs are 'unclean'.
The report refers to similar problems relating to guide dogs now surfacing in England.
An incident in the city of Leicester was mentioned.
Perhaps half the world is barking mad?
Guide dogs have rights and are protected by the 2010 Equality Act and taxi drivers can't refuse to take them on a taxi journey.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought. But who is enforcing this law? How can it work in practice? A couple of the cases cited in the report were about people trying to get to the airport. In one case the driver simply drove away. In the other case the person was refused a taxi when trying to book over the phone. Some taxi firms are very good as I know.
DeleteBarking mad indeed Gwil, but it was ever thus.
ReplyDeleteMust've all started when Adam 'knew' his twin sister.
DeleteBarking mad covers it, especially when it is covered by the law, in both our countries.
ReplyDeleteAll are equal before the law, but reading between the lines it appears that some are more equal than others - and as Weaver says 'it was ever thus'. A man I worked with often worked 15 minutes less than me per day - or 1 hr. 15 mins. per week - for the same wages. It wasn't his fault that his religion instructed him to pray 5 times a day. Sometimes he'd work 30 mins per day less. And it was important work we were doing.
Delete