A taxi driver refused to take a blind man and his guide dog to the Labour Party conference in Brighton because he is afraid of dogs.Whoops! Bad time to exercise your 'fear of dogs', Mohammad Babak...
What he did not know was that John Dickinson-Lilley is a parliamentary officer for the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Mr Dickinson-Lilley was at the conference to lobby ministers and MPs for improved rights for the blind and partially sighted.
As ever with these local online papers, the comments are...well, let's take a look.
There are those who believe this is a fuss over nothing:
Sweatshop Tachinardi: I cannot for the life of me see why he was fined if he really is alergic to dogs.Probably all people who'd whine about their children having to wear school uniform, or being advised by a bar 'No shirt, no service...'
Also, couldn't the man have just simply got the next cab?
Voice of Unreason: I hate dogs. So, if I became a taxi driver, do I have to allow dogs in my cab, if they are guide dogs? Because I wouldn't want one in my car either.
Living in the Real World: "victim" The only victum here is the Taxi driver if he has alliergie or fear of dogs. Just another case of PC Britian gone stark raving mad.
Then we have the people determined either not to mention the elephant in the room, or to make excuses for that elephant:
cheezburger: Lets not turn this in to an argument about Muslims. Its an argument about someone who wrongly refused service, most likely because of his religion as i stated, but the argument is the taxi driver broke the law.And then there's the people who...well, who knows:
dogs-ball: The Taxi driver should have popped his bonnet and said his car had overheated and the guy and his dog would be quicker to take the next available cab. Service is all about the perception of reality - being polite but assertive by means of ****..! As you can see by where I live and my monnicar, I have dogs and live on the Racehill. On Spring & Summer Bank Holidays there is often a large market on the Racecourse. I have stopped taking my dogs to walk (on leads) around these markets because of the large number of Middle Eastern workers and visitors that were terrified of the dogs. Even the sight of my tiny Jack Russel on a lead caused whole groups of people to cower and or cry. They were really terrified of my dogs. This upset my dogs as well - they wanted to comfort the upset people which made the whole thing worse!
SilviaMecon: Shame on this person an officer from parlaiment of uk. who made a complain on a poor taxi driver. He could have taken other cabs in the taxi rank, He wasnt in a desolation place. Now he would feel priviliges with recieving this money from the taxi driver...Another questiones came to my mind. if this person was blind how he got the taxi plate number. Has the dog tell him the plate number? and if he was a disabled, why should he tried to make the taxi driver disable?*boggle*
14 comments:
I have stopped taking my dogs to walk (on leads) around these markets because of the large number of Middle Eastern workers and visitors that were terrified of the dogs. Even the sight of my tiny Jack Russel on a lead caused whole groups of people to cower and or cry. They were really terrified of my dogs.
YEEHHHAAAA!!! Where was that again?
I would even consider buying a couple of really slobberey mouthed constantly head shaking boxer dogs to go for a VERY reguler walk around there: :-))))))
As to the taxi driver. He knows EXACTLY what the conditions of his licence are.
Love that last one. Bloody hell it seems to sum up things nicely...innit!
The problem is the faith of the religion of peace. Mohammed was a cat person, dogs are unclean, ergo Muslims are afraid of dogs.
Even if the rules were clear (and they are in a lot of cases) Muslims have turned around and refused to serve people with seeing eye dogs.
My faith that Islam can integrate is fast running out, not my faith in mankind.
Julia, that last comment is priceless, thanks.
Faith in mankind? Why?
Quiet_Man said...
My faith that Islam can integrate is fast running out,
The point is, as the generatiopns go on each newer generation is increasingly less able.
It is not those, ie the Grandparents, or even GREAT Grandparents who came to Germany in the 50s that can not speak German, it is those who have been born, raised and gone to school here that SAY they can not.
The Parents do not run around all day looking like they were dressed by an explosion in a Turkish flag factory. It is not the Grandparents who insult Germany and Germans at every opportunity.
It is the younger generation.
They are going BACKWARDS.
The problem is the faith of the religion of peace. Mohammed was a cat person, dogs are unclean, ergo Muslims are afraid of dogs.
The way I understand it, it's more like Muhammad was scared of dogs (but not of beating women, killing Jews and raping kids). Therefore, dogs are haraam for Religion of Peacers.
I used to go to a pub in Brighton near the local Islamic Centre. Sometimes I'd take my dog and the Islamic Centre users would display Olympian agility in leaping out of the way of this harmless and adorable creature. LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, I'd think, and sometimes yell.
We phlegmatic Brits are slowly coming to the realisation that the society that tolerates everything will eventually tolerate nothing.
'No dogs.'
Ironic, no, that we are already one third the way back to the old trifecta?
Strange, too, that Mr Babak should choose to live in Brighton with its well known preponderance of another Haram demographic.
As a public service driver any licensed taxi driver (Hackney or Private Hire) is obliged to take 'assistance dogs' (though not domestic pets) under disability access laws.
The only exception is when the driver has a medical condition, such as allergy, in which case he may refuse to carry such animals provided that he has the required certificate to back that up, carried at the time.
Hmmm - would he have taken him to the Lib Dem conference?
When I broke my knee in Chicago and was using crutches for some months, the Moslem taxi drivers would take me to my destination and decline the fare because of the religious obligation to aid disabled persons.
In the Arabian peninsula where I live, if I stand by the side of the highway, strangers will stop and offer me a ride because of the religious obligation to aid the old.
All is not bad in the Islamic culture.
The guards at the entrance to the place where I work are feeding a stray dog.
The attitude towards dogs is mixed.
"Where was that again?
I would even consider buying a couple of really slobberey mouthed constantly head shaking boxer dogs to go for a VERY reguler walk around there..."
That was the thought I had too. I'd certainly never dream on stopping walking them, as this chap apparantly did.
"My faith that Islam can integrate is fast running out..."
It does seem to suit a certain type of personality, doesn't it?
"The point is, as the generatiopns go on each newer generation is increasingly less able."
An easy 'get out of work' excuse, maybe?
"LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, I'd think, and sometimes yell."
So long as you never emailed it, you should be ok... ;)
"Ironic, no, that we are already one third the way back to the old trifecta?"
Heh! Good point...
"The attitude towards dogs is mixed."
I could care less about their personal attitude to dogs. When it enters the public sphere, it needs to be firmly pointed out to them what their responsibilities are.
Interestingly, that report doesn't reveal the outcome of the case. I hope it was a large fine.
It should be a two way street. Taxi drivers should be free not to take someone if they don't want to and not have to justify their actions, and I think that should go all the way to guide dogs. The other side of that is that everyone else should be free to not get in a cab because of its driver without some PC fuckwit judging them for it if the driver happens to be anything other than an able bodied white male. Let's just stop the fucking victimhood poker tournament, eh? Though on second thoughts there's probably some PC head popping as a result of trying to remember if disability trumps ethnicity or the other way around.
Personally if I drove a taxi I'd rather not take dogs. Especially big dogs, hairy dogs, noisy dog, smelly dogs or any combination of the above. Bottom line, dogs are a pain in the arse. I don't say that out of religious beliefs. I say that out of the certainty that ours is going to end up on a fucking kebab spit if he doesn't stop destroying things, the bastard.
banned said: " ...any licensed taxi driver (Hackney or Private Hire) is obliged to take 'assistance dogs' (though not domestic pets) under disability access laws.
The only exception is when the driver has a medical condition, such as allergy..."
And if the driver has a regular passenger who has an allergy and who will choose to use someone else if they leave his taxi scratching and sneezing because of the guide dog that was in there previously presumably that's just tough shit on the driver?
Don't get me wrong, folks. I'm not defending the taxi driver, who I suspect is just using his religion as an excuse to be an insufferable prick. But we bitch about the loss of freedoms, don't we? Doesn't freedom include people being free to be insufferable pricks because of their religion - or just because they got out of bed on the wrong side, whatever - and suffer any financial consequences. Let this Mohammed Babak guy tell dog owners, including dog assisted disabled, to bugger off and let him watch them spend money with other taxi drivers. I imagine that disabled people use taxis quite a lot so if he's keen on pushing a large part of his potential market elsewhere why not just let him? He'll either wise up and lose his prejudices, quit driving a cab for something else, or have to live with less choosy drivers getting work that he's turned away.
WV: exess. That'll be for two extra suitcases and the toll road to the airport I guess :-)
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