The London Assembly has backed the Guide Dogs for the Blind campaign to ensure that there are far more effective sanctions against private hire drivers who refuse access to assistance dogs.
The Assembly agreed a unanimous motion calling for this to be penalised with a level 4 fine, in keeping with offences such as ticket touting.
Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM, who proposed the motion, said:
“Although the law is crystal clear that it is a criminal offence for taxi and private hire drivers to refuse access to disabled people with assistance dogs, it is sadly the case that such discrimination takes place far too often, especially in relation to private hire drivers.
"It is time that the law was properly enforced and effective sanctions applied when blatant discrimination is shown against blind and other disabled people.
"Disabled people with registered assistance dogs should have the confidence to know that they can always use a taxi or private hire vehicle which will carry them and their dog at no extra charge.”
Read more about the Guide Dogs For The Blind campaign.
Full text of the motion:
This Assembly notes with concern that discrimination against assistance dog owners is widespread, with three quarters of those owners surveyed by Guide Dogs for the Blind reporting that they had been refused access to services at some point because they had an assistance dog with them. This Assembly also notes evidence collected by BBC London Television on the prevalence of this problem in London in 2014.
This Assembly further notes that while owners of assistance dogs are entitled by law to access goods and services without discrimination, the law in practice is not effective with the worst offenders of this legislation being private hire drivers, with a small minority of offending drivers having a devastating effect on assistance dogs owners.
This Assembly backs the Guide Dogs for the Blind campaign to ensure that there are far more effective sanctions against drivers who refuse access, noting that the average fine currently imposed is a modest £195.
This Assembly urges the Chairman of the London Assembly to write to the Secretary of State for Transport expressing support for the penalty for refusing carriage to be amended to a level 4 fine, in keeping with offences such as ticket touting, so as to ensure that both drivers and magistrates are fully aware of the unacceptable nature of refusing access to assistance dog owners in London.