RADAR Taxi Campaign – Sixteen years to wait for a taxi!

RADAR’s Taxi! campaign began last year with the ultimate aim of bringing about the long awaited accessibility regulations for new taxis due under Part V of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). 01/04/2004

RADAR also wants use the campaign to make changes in the licensing policies at a number of other local licensing authorities who currently limit number of licenses they issue to, issue more licence plates and to issue them to operators of accessible vehicles, again following full consultation with local disabled people.

Last year RADAR circulated a letter to those licensing authorities in the former group asking them to confirm their current policy and the reasons for it and, whether or not they had any plans to change their policy in the future.

Although the number of responses received was good; only a handful of authorities stated that they were considering changing their current polices to allow for the licensing of accessible taxis. The remainder either stated they had no plans to change and/or they were waiting for the DDA accessibility regulations to appear before taking any action.

RADAR now wants to present to the Government, local licensing authorities and the taxi industry a picture of the effects of:

• The lack of accessibility regulations for licensed taxis
  
• The current policies of some local licensing authorities and,
  
• The implications for the introduction of the Department of Transport's policies as stated in the ‘Taxi Accessibility Regulations – Policy Proposals'.

RADAR is looking for ‘real life' stories from disabled people – examples as to just how vital it is that the government regulate for an industry that provides a vital piece of the transport chain.

You can contribute by completing this PDF-questionnaire.
[ Alternative formats of the questionnaire are available from RADA upon request.]

Download the questionaire here!

You can also complete the questionnaire on-line via RADAR's website at
- www.radar.org.uk