Blind woman 'humiliated' by Dublin taxi driver who refused to allow guide dog in car
The National Transport Authority is investigating a discrimination complaint by a disability advocate who was left stranded outside DCU in May when a taxi driver allegedly declined to take her service animal
Taxi app FreeNow is facing a discrimination case after one of its drivers allegedly refused to allow a guide dog in his vehicle with its blind owner.
The incident is currently being investigated by the National Transport Authority (NTA), and FreeNow has said it has concluded an internal probe and is preparing to formally respond to the complainant.
The incident allegedly occurred outside the Helix venue at Dublin City University (DCU) on May 27, when a taxi was booked through the FreeNow app for disability advocate, Áine Wellard, who is blind.
A cab arrived five minutes later but, when the driver saw that Ms Wellard had a guide dog, he refused to accept the fare.
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“At first, he just said that he wouldn’t take my dog,” she wrote in her formal complaint, notifying the company of her intention to take a discrimination case under the Equal Status Act.
“When I told him he was obliged to take a guide dog under the law, he then said that he had an allergy.” The driver advised Ms Wellard that she should book another taxi and note on the app that she had a dog, explaining that drivers who accept dogs would then respond to the call.
“It would appear that this driver was refusing to take my guide dog because she is a ‘dog’ and not because he had an allergy to dogs,” she wrote, noting that taxi operators with allergies to dogs are required by the NTA to have a certified medical exemption.
“This driver only gave a medical reason after he realised that he was obliged to take a guide dog. Up to that point, he did not appear to make any differentiation between pet dogs and guide dogs.”
In her discrimination complaint, Ms Wellard added that she had been hindered in contacting FreeNow due to the fact that its online contact form is not screen-reader accessible.
“I was treated less favourably because I was refused access to a taxi because I had a guide dog and because I was excluded from using the [company’s online] submission form because it was not screen-reader accessible,” she claimed.
“I was therefore humiliated in front of a friend, seriously inconvenienced, was probably lied to by the taxi driver, and have… had my complaint treated by the FreeNow company in a trivialising and dismissive manner,” added Ms Wellard.
A spokesperson for the NTA said they regretted that the complaint had not been acknowledged or followed up in a timely manner. “This is a rare but significant oversight and NTA will conduct a review to ensure it does not happen again,” they said.
The authority confirmed that an investigation into the complaint had now commenced.
A spokesperson for FreeNow told the Irish Mirror that it had concluded an investigation into the matter raised by Ms Wellard, and would be in contact with her directly “in due course”.
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