Blind woman frustrated over taxi cab refusal
Says it’s illegal to deny guide dog, unless there’s documented proof of driver’s medical condition
A visually impaired Halifax resident is frustrated she was refused service from a taxi cab at the airport on Friday night.
Shelley Adams, a program lead with the CNIB, said a cab driver told her he could not take her and her guide dog Pogo because of allergies.
Pogo is a seven-year-old black lab. She’s had him for about five-and-a-half years.
They were returning from a work conference in Toronto last week and their flight into Halifax Stanfield International was delayed due to fog, landing two hours late.
“You’re tired and everything, you just want to go out and get in a cab and go home,” Adams said Tuesday, adding she usually has her regular cab and driver booked ahead but she didn’t this time.
She said staff at the ground transportation service department assured her and a coworker she was travelling with that airport cabs will take service dogs.
“So I went outside and had to wait a little bit because it was busy and then the car that showed up that was for me, the driver got out and when he saw Pogo, he said — he wasn’t talking to me directly, he was talking to the commissionaire who was outside keeping everything organized — he said, ‘I can’t take her, I’m allergic to dogs.’”
She asked if he had a doctor’s note on file.
“Because it’s my understanding that if you don’t have a medical note on file from your doctor saying you have allergies to the dog, you have to take me,” Adams said. “You can’t refuse me, it’s illegal.”
She didn’t want to get confrontational as she was tired and just wanted to get home.
Adams said her co-worker took the driver’s business card and a photo of his licence plate and they were able to get in the cab behind the one who refused her.
Nicole Scaplen, a spokeswoman for the Airport Authority, said the incident is under investigation through their curbside services manager.
The Airport Authority does have guidelines set up in their contracts with taxi drivers that they are not permitted to refuse to transport passengers with special needs, including those who are accompanied by a service dog.
“So if a driver has a medical letter on file that states that he’s unable to transport a service animal, perhaps due to an allergy, then that’s well within their own rights,” Scaplen said. “But if that’s not there on file, that driver is expected to provide that service to someone seeking a taxi service from the airport. So if that’s not there — if there’s no bona fide reason for not providing that service — they could face disciplinary action for that.”
If a driver has a record of violations, such discipline could include cancelling the contract, although that may not be the case in this instance.
The taxi company involved is On Time Flight Halifax Airport Taxi. The Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stocks lists Hussen Milad as a partner in the business.
The driver, who wished to remain anonymous, maintains he does have a medical condition that prevents him from taking animals in his car.
Although he did not have a doctor’s note at the time of the refusal, he said he spent much of Tuesday at a clinic to get one.
“I have (allergies) and asthma,” he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
“I don’t know how I can serve her if I have a medical issue,” he said. “I wish I could help her but unfortunately I couldn’t.”
Adams said she’s not looking for the driver to suffer serious consequences, but wants to live in a world where she doesn’t have to fight for access to cabs.
“I want my message to be strong but, like I said, I don’t want this driver to get in trouble, I just want him to be educated. And not just him, but all cab companies around. How many times do we have to say ‘you can’t refuse service dogs, it’s illegal?’
“It’s not fair. It’s 2018, it shouldn’t happen.”