{"id":8961,"date":"2024-02-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/2024\/02\/04\/disabled-man-refused-taxi-service-due-to-assistance-dog\/"},"modified":"2024-02-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T00:00:00","slug":"disabled-man-refused-taxi-service-due-to-assistance-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/disabled-man-refused-taxi-service-due-to-assistance-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled man refused taxi service due to assistance dog"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A disabled man who had collapsed from exhaustion says he was refused taxi services because of his assistance dog according to a report by the BBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Edward Jones, 46, is registered disabled due to a long-term chronic illness which affects his mobility and on two occasions, he was ignored by “at least eight taxis” outside Chippenham Railway Station because of his dog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Jones described the events as “devastating and humiliating” as he was unable to get up from the pavement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On 27 November,he was leaving Chippenham railway station when he collapsed on his way to the taxi rank due to severe fatigue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In pain and unable to move, he began calling to nearby taxis and waving his walking stick in the air for help.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Jones said the drivers refused to take him because of his dog – a two-year-old Teacup Shih Tzu named George – who helps him with his mental health.<\/p>\n

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Mr Jones has since been too worried to attempt similar journeys and describes feeling trapped and isolated in a new town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said: “For a human being to scoff and laugh at a disabled person and say, ‘we don’t have to take you anywhere’, especially when they are collapsed on the floor. I can’t be the only one.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Councillor Caroline Thomas, cabinet member for transport at Wiltshire Council, said: “We are sorry to hear about this incident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Our taxi policy is clear that guide dogs and assistance dogs must be carried, and it is illegal to refuse to do so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We take this matter very seriously and are investigating this specific complaint.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Great Western Railway said it was “disappointed” to hear of Mr Jones’ experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A disabled man who had collapsed from exhaustion says he was refused taxi services because of his assistance dog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instituteoflicensing.org\/news_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}