Two taxi drivers must pay nearly £2,000 after a landmark court case for refusing to take a blind grandfather’s guide dog on board.
Braintree hackney cabbies Ramesh Krishnan and Saleh Attia appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday last week for refusing to take on Philip Lee’s black labrador Nan.
Mr Lee, a married 58-year-old father-of-three, said: “If another guide dog user didn’t have the confidence to stand up to them this kind of thing could carry on.
“I did it for the other guide dog users.”
The court heard that on Thursday, February 12, the grandfather-of-one was travelling to Braintree College to see his daughter, but not knowing Braintree well, he got off a bus in Manor Street to take a taxi instead. But Krishnan and Attia, in separate cabs, both refused to take on his seven-year-old guide dog Nan, before he successfully took a third taxi to the college.
“I went up to the first taxi and he said he doesn’t take any dogs,” said Mr Lee, who says Nan is “essential”.
“I explained it was a guide dog, but he said again that he doesn’t take any dogs, so I asked him for an exemption certificate and he just said again, ‘I don’t take dogs’.
“He told me his name and taxi number and I then approached a second taxi and got the same treatment.
“I was surprised at first because I’d stood up for myself and argued that they should be taking me. I was angry, but when I got that treatment from the second driver I was not only angry, I was also taken aback because I thought ‘how am I going to get to the college?’ It knocked my confidence and shook me up a bit.”
The next day Mr Lee approached Guide Dogs UK engagement officer Sue Forster, who is blind herself, and together they took the case to the district council.
Prosecutor Braintree District Council, and Guide Dogs for the Blind, whose representatives were at court supporting Mr Lee, believe it could be the first such prosecution in Essex.
“If they had turned around and said they were scared of dogs or had an exemption certificate I would have completely understood,” said Mr Lee, who volunteers at Guide Dogs UK, RNIB, Essex Cares and at an Essex County Council access group.
“I don’t want them to lose their livelihood but I want to stick up for other guide dog users. I had to think long and hard about taking this to court.”
Krishnan and Attia each pleaded guilty to one count of refusing to convey an assistance dog contrary to the Equalities Act 2010.
Krishnan, of Nottage Crescent, was fined £150, ordered to pay £50 compensation to Mr Lee, and £718 in costs.
Attia, of Coggeshall Road, must pay a £150 fine, £50 compensation, £707 in costs.
At the end of the hearing, prosecutor Gurvynda Paddan-White said the pair had failed to “comply with their legal duty” and that they were restricting Mr Lee’s “freedom of movement”.
Chairman of the bench Shaun Rayner said: “If someone with an assistance dog comes asking for help, you help them.”