Taxi driver refused to take a Minsk resident and her child with autism

This week, the story of a girl who was dropped off by a taxi driver at night after she changed her payment method from cash to bank card was widely discussed on social media. The Transport Inspectorate sided with the passenger, and the driver was temporarily blocked by Yandex Go service.

After the publication of this story, a girl named Svetlana (name changed) contacted Onliner.by. She called a taxi to get home with her child (the child has a disability due to an autism spectrum disorder). However, the taxi driver refused to take the passengers — the woman contacted the Transport Inspectorate.

— This happened at the beginning of the year. I called a taxi through the app ("Comfort+" tariff). The order was accepted by a carrier — an individual entrepreneur. He arrived in a BYD Yuan Plus car. After the car stopped (approximately forty centimeters from the sidewalk), my child and I stepped onto the roadway, opened the door, greeted him, and began to get in. We did not delay traffic and did not make any remarks, despite the fact that the driver could have parked closer to the curb for a more comfortable boarding, — the interlocutor notes.

— The driver met us with rudeness and aggression. As soon as we took our seats in the back, he, in raised tones, demanded that we get out of the car and informed us that he would not take us. He kicked us out of the car, which drove my daughter to hysterics. He canceled the trip on his own initiative, ignoring my attempts to find out the reason.

At the moment of being dropped off, the woman was so scared and upset by the child's condition that she did not have time to demand the book of comments and suggestions, which the carrier is obliged to keep according to the law.

The child with a disability experienced severe stress, and their condition recovered for two more days after the incident — a fear of taxi cars appeared.

Svetlana is confident that the driver refused the ride after seeing the child's health peculiarities. She also notes that such cases are not uncommon in communities of parents of children with disabilities.

— In public transport, our children are not always welcome… You take a taxi for comfort — and still face discrimination. It is exhausting and humiliating, — she says.

Reaction of the Transport Inspectorate

As the woman said, she contacted the service's support, and after a long correspondence, she was given the driver's data. With this information, she went to the Transport Inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport, where she described the situation in detail. The inspectorate's response indicated: the driver had no right to refuse service to a passenger.

The department reminded that in the absence of legal grounds, a car carrier has no right to refuse to fulfill a transportation contract. In addition, a taxi driver is obliged to fulfill orders received through a dispatcher or an electronic system, and to be polite and friendly.

Violation of these norms is considered an administrative offense.

As a result, carriers were additionally reminded of the unacceptability of discrimination against people with disabilities, and information on the specific case was forwarded to the regional subdivision. Later, a response arrived: the driver was held accountable.

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