Taxi vouchers for the disabled

are a thing of the past. The Senior Cat now has a card instead...when it can be used.

I was interested to see a piece in this morning's paper about the way in which some taxi drivers are apparently trying not to use the card. They claim they "don't have the app" or they "don't know how to use it" - and they can apparently dream up some other excuses as well. Taxi drivers should have the facilities and the ability to use it. No taxi on the road should be without either, especially an access cab. 

The card replaces the old voucher system - a voucher had to be filled in for each trip taken. I suspect there were plenty of opportunities for fraud under the old system - and that it is harder to do the same thing under the new system. 

Yes, let's take advantage of the disabled - especially someone who cannot see what is going on. I remember being in a shop once. I was waiting to be served and the person ahead of me was there with her guide dog. The girl at the till tried to charge too much so the person immediately to my side who could see what was going on interfered.  All she said was, "Excuse me, I think you've made a mistake." It did not go down well.  It made me wonder how often people who are unable to see are overcharged.  From what my late friend H... had to say it certainly was and probably is a problem.

The Senior Cat had to use an access cab yesterday. He had cataract surgery. Middle Cat arranged for a driver she knows to pick him up. He is supposed to pick the Senior Cat up again today. Knowing L... as I do he will be there. He doesn't do the school run. But not everyone knows one of the drivers well enough to be able to rely on them in this way. L...drives an access cab by choice. He likes to work with people who actually need his services. He's careful. He will take someone right into the place they need to go - even if he thinks they can do it themselves. He would earn a little extra and would never take it. 

There are more drivers like L... of course there are. That's good. It makes up a little for the drivers who don't want guide dogs in their cabs or don't want to take someone whose speech is so impaired as to be almost unintelligible or whose behaviour is out of the ordinary. Perhaps though it is time taxi drivers were given more training. They need to learn to use more than "the app".