A taxi driver refused to take a disabled passenger-Leicester

Leicester Mercury



'Can't she get out of chair'

A taxi driver refused to take a disabled passenger because he did not know how to operate his cab's ramps, a court was told.

Abdidahir Jibrie Jama (44), of Kashmir Road, St Matthews, Leicester, was fined £150 and ordered to pay £600 costs after pleading guilty to refusing to carry the passenger.

Ginny Torelli, prosecuting for Leicester City Council, told magistrates that Jama's cab was at the head of a queue of about 12 taxis outside the Haymarket shopping centre, in Leicester, on February 22.

A woman in an electric wheelchair, and her husband, approached the taxi.

Ms Torelli said: "Her husband asked the driver if he could get the ramps out. He replied 'can't she get out of the chair so she can get in?'.

"When he was told she could not, he immediately went to the taxi behind him, had a conversation with the driver, returned to his cab, closed the door and drove away, did a U-turn and went to the back of the queue."

Ms Torelli said the next taxi driver took the couple without any problems.

She said: "A few weeks later, they got in the same cab which had been driven by Mr Jama, this time with a different driver, and the wheelchair fitted without any trouble."

When interviewed on March 13, Jama initially claimed that when the incident had happened it had been rush-hour and he had already got a passenger in his cab.

He later changed his story to say he had not seen the woman in the wheelchair.

Jama had previously pleaded not guilty to the offence. Yakesh Tanna, for Jama, said his client had only been driving a Hackney carriage for two months and originally pleaded not guilty because he was "petrified about the repercussions of losing his badge".

He said: "He was not aware of the full mechanics of the ramp system, which was different from the cab in which he had been trained.

"Rather foolishly, he took another fare after refusing to take the disabled woman in the wheelchair.

" It was a stupid thing to do. If he had explained his difficulty with the ramp things could have been worked out."

Judge David Meredith said the offence was made more serious because it involved a disabled passenger - whose need to use a taxi was greater than most.

He said the offence cast doubts on Jama's fitness to hold a Hackney cab licence.

The judge told Jama: "The last-minute guilty plea entitles you to little, if any, reduction in fine and the penalty imposed may be only the start of your problems.

"You will have to persuade the local authority to renew your licence - and they may need some persuasion."