Taxi driver told blind woman – put guide dog in the boot or get out

KRudd’s huddled masses won’t play nice. They also won’t play by our rules:

A LEGALLY blind woman was refused entry to a taxi unless she put her guide dog in the boot.

By Neil Keene/Daily Telegraph/hat tip ROP

Sarah Eady was upset when she was told her guide dog would have to ride in the boot.

The incident outside Central Station in Sydney last week highlighted an ongoing problem for vision-impaired commuters that laws are failing to fix.

About 35 per cent of all people with guide dogs have been refused entry to a taxi in the past 12 months, despite hefty fines for cabbies who fail to comply.

Sydney woman Sarah Eady said she was at Central Railway’s taxi rank on Thursday when a driver refused to let her five-year-old guide dog Ally into the front seat.

“I opened the door and he said ‘Can you sit in the back with the dog’ and I told him the dog was trained to sit in the front,” she said.

“He said he didn’t want the dog in the front and then he asked me to put Ally in the boot.”

Ms Eady said she was often refused entry to taxis because of her dog.

There is a long history of refusals by members of the religion of peace:

• Muslim cabbies refusing the blind and drinkers | News.com.au
• Muslim Taxi Drivers vs. Seeing-Eye Dogs /Daniel Pipes
• UK: ‘Unclean’ guide dog banned by Muslim cab driver – Jihad Watch
• Enough pandering to Mohammedans!
• Cab refused to let dog ride in front
• Laws failing to fix peristent problem
• Drivers targeted by awareness campaign

However, the latest incident was particularly frustrating because it flew in the face of a recent Guide Dogs NSW awareness campaign that specifically targeted cabbies.

Advertisements featuring the slogan “Any dog can chase a car, ours can catch a cab” have been placed on the back of taxis throughout Sydney.

“These dogs are essential to our mobility,” Ms Eady said.

“If I try to get a taxi and they say no it’s hurtful because they are saying no to my dog and my dog is precious to me.

“But it also literally leaves me stranded – physically they’ve cut off the one way I have of getting somewhere where buses and trains aren’t always available.”

Guide Dogs NSW community education co-ordinator Dannie Hogan said the problem seemed to be worse in Sydney and other metropolitan areas.

“In smaller country towns there tends to be more of a relationship between the drivers and the vision-impaired so that they know what to do,” she said.

In March, the NSW District Court fined a Sydney cabbie $750 after

the driver refused entry to Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes and his guide dog.

NSW Taxi Council spokesman Stephen Butt said guidelines for carrying vision impaired passengers were included in driver training courses.

Tagged as: blind women, guide dogs refused, Taxi Jihad