Some grey areas of carrying wheelchairs

1.If the passenger has an electric wheelchair and is too big to get up the ramp, can the passengers still abuse drivers for not providing a service when we refuse?
2.In what cirumstances can we say no?
3.If wheelchair and passenger are so heavy that a driver is in danger of doing his back in, can he refuse? And if he does damage is back then who is responsible?
4. Are the drivers insured to wheel the passengers about outside the taxi to take them into offices or bring them out of buildings on way to taxi? If something happens, like wheelchair scraping against a gatepost or even toppling over trying to get up steps, then who is liable, and what do the council instruct us to do?

I will try answer these questions as much as I can, in a very legally complicated area.

1.If the passenger has an electric wheelchair and is too big to get up the ramp, can the passengers still abuse drivers for not providing a service when we refuse?

A) No law abiding citizen is allowed to verbally or physically abuse a fellow citizen. This is according to British Law an offence under The Public Order Act.

2.In what cirumstances can we say no?

A) When it is reasonable. Unfortunatley there is no legal definition of Reasonableness, however it is usually judged on whather a person of sound mind and jugement would agree with the actions taken.

3.If wheelchair and passenger are so heavy that a driver is in danger of doing his back in, can he refuse? And if he does damage is back then who is responsible?

The driver is always responsible for his own actions and must decide his own course of action. See also answer to question 2. Is it reasonable???

4. Are the drivers insured to wheel the passengers about outside the taxi to take them into offices or bring them out of buildings on way to taxi? If something happens, like wheelchair scraping against a gatepost or even toppling over trying to get up steps, then who is liable, and what do the council instruct us to do?

A) This is a question for drivers individually to ask thier insurance companies, It would be remiss of any Self Employed person not to have some form of public liability insurance, which may well cover this part of a drivers work.

On the legal aspect of this a driver has a duty to safely load and unload a wheelchair passenger to and from their vehicle, and that starts and finishes at the kerbside. A driver is only morally obliged to provide customer services above this, and agian it would be down to individual drivers as to what level of customer service they provide.

A final note on this if the Council recieves a complaint from a customer, then a full investigation is undertaken, this always includes an interview or speaking to the driver in question. If as prescribed in the answer to question 2 the Council deem that the actions of the driver were in that case un-reasonable then disciplinary action may be taken against that driver. And therefore it also follows that if the Council deem the drivers action to have been reasonable then no action would be taken agianst the driver.