The case ended up with the Regional Licensing Commission because a passerby recorded the incident on video and provided the footage to the authorities.
Seventy-one-year-old McDonald with his wife and guide dog had just finished shopping that evening and went around the corner of the shopping center where there is a taxi rank. When the wife was opening the front passenger door, the driver told her that she could not take them because she was said to be allergic to dogs.
Mr. McDonald warned the driver that such a refusal is illegal. But because the driver insisted, the couple were forced to contact another taxi driver, who took them home without any problems.
When the matter reached the Regional Licensing Commission, its official Drew Robertson confirmed, according to STV News, that the driver, Abdulsalam Idlebi, had breached the license conditions by rejecting a customer “without reasonable explanation”.
“Mr. Idlebi has been living here for nine years and has been licensed to operate a taxi since last January. There have been no complaints against him yet,” the official said.
Mr. McDonald has been registered as blind for twelve years and three years ago he got a guide dog, Laurence, a cross between a poodle and a labrador. “The animal has an identifier on its leash that clearly says it is a guide dog,” Robertson continued.
He admitted that he is afraid of dogs
He added that these specially trained dogs are considered medical aids from a legal point of view and that taxi drivers are obliged to allow blind people to take them into the vehicle.
Under the fire of criticism and the pressure of evidence, the driver apologized to the commission for his actions. He also admitted that he has no allergies, but that he is afraid of dogs.
In the end, the officials assessed the incident relatively leniently. They did not take away Idlebi’s taxi driver’s license, but only suspended its validity for a period of two weeks.
