Getting taxis in Cardiff an ‘absolute trial’ says wheelchair user

Glyn Jones, from Fairwater, attempted to hire a wheelchair-accessible taxi on Easter Sunday to take him home from a friends house in Grangetown, only to be told there were none available.   

“I needed to be back home in Fairwater by 10pm in order for my carer to be able to get me ready for bed,” he said.

“I rang to organise a taxi and was told by every operator that there were none available, that they had no accessible taxis on duty at all.”

“The responder at Dragon Taxis told me they didn’t have any wheelchair-accessible cabs available. I said, ‘look, why do you have a licence if you’ve never got any taxis available?”

After trying for “a good few hours” to book a wheelchair-accessible taxi, Mr Jones says he was forced to travel a mile down Corporation Road in his wheelchair to a local pub.

There, he found “seven or eight taxis in the taxi rank outside- and the first one in the queue had wheelchair access and a Dragon Taxis logo on the side.”

The National contacted Dragon Taxis for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

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Mr Jones told the National that the lack of accessible taxis nearly made him miss his evening appointment with his carer, and could have seen him forced to sleep overnight in his wheelchair at his friend’s house.

“I thought was going to have to stay the night in my friend’s living room, that I was going to have to sleep in my wheelchair and leave the dog at home on his own,” he said.  

“I don’t understand why these companies aren’t able to guarantee that people in wheelchairs can get a taxi. It’s not something you get in any other city- in London, every single taxi is accessible for wheelchair users.”

Since 2017, taxi and private hire vehicle providers operating wheelchair-accessible vehicles in England, Wales and Scotland have been legally obliged to transport wheelchair users.

Mr Jones said getting hold of an accessible taxi in Cardiff is like "the wild west". (Picture: Glyn Jones)

Those who refuse to do so can face fines of up to £1,000 and risk having their licence suspended.

Despite this, Mr Jones says he gets refused taxi rides by drivers of wheelchair accessible cabs “all the time”, even when there are taxi marshals on duty.

“There have been times where I’ve had the marshals ask four different wheelchair-accessible taxis to take me and they’ve all refused.”

“It’s like the wild west out there. It’s an absolute trial trying to get a taxi as a wheelchair user in Cardiff.”

Cardiff Council has a complaints process for people with disabilities who wish to complain about taxi drivers or providers. However, Mr Jones says the process takes too long and is too complex to be effective.

“They have to schedule a hearing at the licencing committee, which meets once a week. You arrive at 9am in the morning and if you are not first up you might be there until noon.

“I was there one day for four hours - It actually just puts you off reporting it.”