<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/24/he-could-have-killed-my-dog-ride-share-drivers-accused-of-refusing-passengers-with-guide-dogs>
"Natalie has lost count of how many times she’s called a ride-share or taxi and
been left standing on the curb with her guide dog.
Two years ago, she was going to a music lesson in Sydney’s Sutherland shire
when she says a driver sped off, dragging her dog, Sharnee, behind the car.
“He said no, you need to book Uber pet, basically refusing me. I was half in
his car, trying to show him the guide dog card,” Natalie, who did not want her
surname used, said.
“He goes, ‘Oh that’s not necessary,’ and drove off at 30 or 40km/h,” she said.
“I was yelling out stop, stop, you’re going to injure my dog.”
Natalie says Sharnee’s paw pad was scrapped off in the incident and afterwards
she hated getting into any car. Natalie was forced to put Sharnee into early
retirement from working as a guide dog, and Natalie now has a different guide
dog.
In the months after the incident, the driver left the country, so there was no
avenue to pursue a complaint, she said.
“He could have killed my dog,” Natalie said. “It took months for [the police]
to come back to me with the result, which ended up being nothing.”
A month later, another driver refused to take her. After she complained to the
service, the driver claimed Natalie hadn’t been wearing a mask. After Natalie
produced the CCTV to prove that she had been, the man was fined but allowed to
continue working as a ride-share driver.
“They have to have something to deter them from doing this,” Natalie said.
“Something so they know it’s not right and the laws won’t put up with it. Right
now, they’re making out like it’s a joke.”
Almost half (46%) of Australians living with low vision and blindness have
experienced a refusal with a taxi or ride-share company in the past 24 months,
new data collected by Ernst & Young and commissioned by Guide Dogs Australia
has revealed."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
