Hailo driver fined after refusing to carry blind man's guide dog

A Hailo driver refused to carry a blind man's guide dog
Paul Cheston6 November 2015
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A blind man has described the “truly horrible” discrimination he and thousands of others face after a Hailo driver was found guilty of refusing to carry a guide dog.

Journalist Sean Dilly had booked a car with the app in March. The firm sent Shah Hoque, 30, and Mr Dilly phoned him to say he was blind and had to be accompanied by his black Labrador assistance dog Sammy.

But Hoque refused to pick Mr Dilly up, telling him: “I am a private hire driver — I can refuse a job for any reason.”

Mr Dilly reminded the driver of his legal responsibilities and warned he would be taken to court if he could not produce an exemption certificate.

Hoque was charged at Hammersmith magistrates’ court with failing to carry a guide dog accompanying a registered blind person. He was fined £200, with £200 costs and £100 compensation for Mr Dilly.

Hoque claimed he had not heard Mr Dilly say he was blind or any mention of a guide dog.

Mr Dilly said: “Every single time this happens a little bit of you dies inside. Today is about those who may not have the confidence to take offenders to task. Refusing guide dogs quite literally ruins lives.”

A Hailo spokesman said it was making a £250 donation to Guide Dogs for the Blind after the blunder.

In a statement, he said: "Hailo is committed to providing a service that is 100% safe, 100% accessible and 100% reliable - which includes helping passengers with accessibility issues get safely and quickly from A to B. This incident refers to a Hailo Exec minicab driver, a service that we no longer offer since going back to black cabs only on 1 October.

"When we had found out about this case, we acted immediately and removed the driver in question from our network.

"As a gesture of goodwill and to part of Hailo’s commitment to helping people with accessibility challenges get around the cities they reside, a £250 donation was made to the charity of Sean’s choice, Guide Dogs for the Blind."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT