SOME SUPPORT LONG OVERDUE - BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!
Happy April everyone, the PHTM EXPO is just around the corner, I for one can’t wait, and nor should you, the NPHTA AGM is also being held on Tuesday 31 May.
But down to business for this month, a bit of an odd head- line, support, and recognition? From who? From where? With the fuel prices, the second-hand car prices, the clean air zone charges all hitting us and hitting us hard, what can I be talking about right?
Well, we do like to report on the good the bad and the ugly, and occasionally there is good news to bring you. Right now, there are MPs speaking up for the industry at local level, at parliamentary level, and even bringing forward new Bills for approval to make change happen as I will report below in a little detail. And yes, I do mean a lit- tle, a brief summary, since very few of us have the time, or the desire to sit and read the Bill in full.
CLEAN AIR ZONE CHARGES
James Daley, MP for Bury North, Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, and James Grundy, MP for Leigh have all spoken up several times against the Greater Manchester CAZ charging zone, which even the Prime Min- ister spoke against. They have all been very vocal supporting us in our campaign on this subject.
TAXIS AND PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES (DISABLED PERSONS) BILL
This Bill was read a third time and passed on Friday 18 March, and will now proceed to the House of Lords for consideration.
The Bill, introduced by Jeremy Wright MP for Kenilworth and Southam, proposes to address inconsistencies in the Equality Act to ensure that all disabled people are afforded protection from discrimination.
Mr Wright said during the debate:
“It is no easy task to create legislation that is intended for millions of people. The Equality Act 2010 made very significant progress in very many areas, but it was not perfect, and I do not suppose that anybody involved in its drafting or implementation would claim as much. We as legislators should always be prepared
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I was lucky enough to have a virtual meeting with Jeremy Wright MP, prior to the Bill’s third reading, having read the headline only, I was furious. At first glance, it appeared that the aim was to push for 100% WAVs adding even more costs on to our members. So the sleeves were rolled up, and I was ready!!! But luckily, I read the bill first.
It does nothing of the sort. In fact, quite the opposite, as it clearly states: “The existing Equality Act taxi and private hire vehicle measures do not, for example, provide clearly expressed rights for a wheelchair user intending to transfer from their wheelchair into the passenger seat of a non-designated taxi or private hire vehicle.” Which was agreed allows for those who are wheelchair users, not just those who are wheelchair bound - a huge difference.
We discussed and agreed that not all disabled persons are able to make use of vehicles designed for wheelchair bound persons, and in fact, many do prefer the comfort of a smaller vehicle, with nice comfortable seating. The desire therefore is to change the current suggestion to maintain a public and accessible register from being optional, to making it mandatory, in order to make sure that if anyone needs a WAV, they can be provided with one much faster.
We discussed in more detail the issue of partially sighted, or hard of hearing persons, as stated here: “They do not provide a visually impaired person with a right to
APRIL 2022
to look again at our work and consider whether it can be improved on. At present, the taxi and private hire vehicle sections of that Act do not work well enough for all the 13.7 million disabled people in Great Britain.
The fundamental intention of the Bill is to ensure the protections envisaged in that Act work effectively and comprehensively when a disabled person uses a taxi or a private hire vehicle, so that any disabled person has reasonable rights and protections enabling them to book, access and travel in a taxi or private hire vehicle at no additional charge.
As it stands, only wheelchair and assistance dog users have specific rights and protections under the Equality Act in relation to taxis and private hire vehicles. Indeed, current measures fail to sufficiently protect disabled people who do not use wheelchairs or assistance dogs from discriminatory treatment at all.”
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