Guidance for drivers regarding the Equality Act 2010 Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons) Act 2022
The above acts impose duties upon drivers of hackney carriage and private hire vehicles within England and Wales.
This paper aims to provide drivers with the information needed in order that they can comply with their legal obligations.
Carrying disabled persons
It is the responsibility of the driver to:-
- accept and provide carriage for any disabled passenger if their vehicle can accommodate them;
- provide reasonable assistance to any disabled passenger;
- carry the passenger safely and in reasonable comfort;
- load the passenger’s luggage into or out of the vehicle, if required; and
- not make any additional charge for carrying a disabled passenger (including any time taken to load/unload the passenger).
- to, when pre-booked, assist any disabled person to identify and find the vehicle and to refrain from charging them extra for doing so, provided the driver is made aware that the passenger requires such assistance.
- ensure that all equipment required for the safe carriage of wheelchair users be present and in good working order, this includes ramps, lifts and straps.
- if the passenger is to be transported in their wheelchair, to carry the passenger in safety and in reasonable comfort while they remain in their wheelchair;
- assist a disabled person in entering and alighting the vehicle safely while they remain in their wheelchair, if required;
- load the wheelchair into or out of the vehicle, if the passenger does not wish to remain in the wheelchair.
Assistance dogs
It is the responsibility of the driver:-
- to accept bookings from passengers who have an assistance dog;
- to carry the passenger’s dog and allow it to remain with the passenger, and
- not to make any additional charge for doing so.
The driver cannot refuse to carry an assistance dog unless a certificate of exemption* has been obtained from us and is exhibited in the vehicle in the prescribed manner.
*Certificate of exemption
A certificate of exemption shall be issued if the licensing authority is satisfied that it is appropriate on medical grounds to exempt a person from the duties imposed by this legislation.
In determining whether to issue a certificate of exemption, the licensing authority shall, in particular, have regard to the physical characteristics of the taxi which the applicant drives or those of any kind of taxi in relation to which they require the certificate.
The certificate includes driver name, licence number, vehicle registration number or vehicle type and date of expiry of Certificate.
Legal penalties
A driver of a taxi who fails to comply with any duty imposed on them by this section is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.