Muslim Cabbie

[suffragette]

A Muslim cabbie refused to transport a legal officer from the RNIB and her guide dog because his religion considers the dog an unclean animal. He was fined �200 and ordered to pay �1200 for failing to comply with cabbie regulations and the Disability Discrimination Act. His response was one of defiance and he will continue to refuse to transport passengers accompanied by guide dogs. If he feels so strongly about the matter, why has he entered a profession where he is legally bound to assist the disabled and should he lose his licence if he continues to flout the law on religious grounds?

[scuzzball]

Suffragette - apologies - I realise you had posted the link.

[suffragette]

Hi scuzzball. I placed a link to the Evening Standard about 5 answers from the top. I hope it works.

[ChampagneMan]

The cabbie swine should be fined heavily. About Ten Thousand Pounds. Just to get the message across that he is not wanted in this country. The cheek of the man. Wish the dog had bitten him real hard on his bal*s.

[WaldoMcFroog]

This bloke is a complete imbicile, and his actions are indefensible, but SP is nevertheless entirely right about the trend for printing stories pandering to certain people's bigotries.

I remember when this section used to be about the questions and answers and not 'The let's all see who can say the most ignorant thing about muslims-Bank'. Don't your knees ever get tired of this involuntary jerking?

[suffragette]

It's the first question I've placed in News since joining Waldo (I think!) and my interest is in the impact religious/cultural discord is having on the disabled who have struggled for years to attain fair and equal treatment in our society. Will their progress towards this fair goal be hampered if religious sensibilities are placed above the welfare of such individuals?

[WaldoMcFroog]

Sorry, that wasn't directed at you, but the constant stream of people who feel the need to tell everyone how much they hate Muslims, reinforcing lazy thinking everwhere they go.

[tyler06]

shuzzball i think mo khan gave it away .

[Pippa68]

I agree with you Waldo.

[Alan2]

.....because he would'nt put his radio on, kept praying, talked incessantly about some allah geezer and had a f*****g towel wrapped round his head.

[Trotbot]

This is an anti-Muslim thing because a few years ago a cabbie was fined for not taking someone smoking, although at the time it was legal to smoke in cabs. The general sentiment from the Mail and clones was the outrage on behalf of a cabbie who couldn't turn down a fare he found offensive.

[mangetoute]

scuzzball scroll down the answers theres one posted.top and bottom of the issue,if i refused to do my job for what ever reason i would be sacked,he refused to do his job end of no excuses,its cost him and will cost him if he dose it again and rightly so.thats the law in this land he's broken it.

[flubber]

A cabbie holds a public licence to transport any member of the public and therefore his licence should be revoked. The only time I feel any cabbie can and should refuse to take a passenger is if the passenger was drunk and disorderly.

The passenger in question probably did not ask to be blind and need a guide dog as eyes, no more than I need a dog as my ears. I doubt if the blind person could have cared less as to her cabbies nationality or religion, but I wonder if the cabbie ever was to have a blind member of the family if his religion would allow him some elasticity in his views?

[NH]

If the dog was "impure" and "unclean" shouldn't he have just given the car a good wash? Or am I just being naive?

Judging by the article I've read, I'd say he's a bit of an idiot, to say the least. Surely Islam, like any other religion, preaches about helping those worse off- one dog in a back seat would hardly kill him.

sp1814's got a point, though; with 7/7 still (sort of) in the not-too-distant past it seems that any sort of Islam-related row is considered newsworthy.