[Cagdu] FW: Canada: Uber Criticized After Woman With Service Dog Denied Service

[Tina Thomas]

Subject: [seeing-eye] Canada: Uber Criticized After Woman With Service Dog Denied Service

 

Canada: Uber Criticized After Woman With Service Dog Denied Service

BY  ADELLE LOISELLE

JANUARY 6, 2017 4:59AM

 

It’s a call Amanda Haggert says she’s made hundreds of times since getting her service dog, Zeke; a call to Uber to get a ride to work.

 

Except on Sunday night, Haggert says the driver refused to drive her.

 

After an exchange of words, she cancelled the ride and tried again.

 

Then a second driver denied her service.

 

After a complaint, and a conversation with workers on Uber’s service line, Haggert was sure she would have no problems getting a ride to work Wednesday

evening, but then she did.

 

“At a quarter-to-seven Wednesday night, I called an Uber. I texted them ‘I have a service dog with me’. About five minutes later I got a phone call,” she says. “He says ‘you have a dog. Is it a big dog?’ — he says ‘yeah. I don’t think that’s going to work.”

 

Finally, the fourth driver took her to work, but by then, Haggert had had enough. She complained again, and now she wants to raise public awareness that customers with a service animal can not be denied a ride.

 

Uber’s website also  explicitly states drivers must provide service,

even if the service animal in question is a 75lbs Rottweiler/Lab mix, like Zeke.  Uber Spokeswoman, Kayla Whaling says any driver that refuses could have their partnership terminated.  The ride sharing service also denies Haggert cancelled three trips, saying their records show only one cancellation.

 

At Veteran’s Cab, Manager Walter Bezzina says it is illegal to deny customers with a service animal service. However, drivers can face legitimate challenges too.

 

“There are some guys, for example, that are allergic [to dogs],” he says. “So what we do is to them [the drivers] you know, call us and then we’ll just send another cab.”

 

He says another driver can often be at the pickup point in three minutes.

 

“Many years ago, I had a guy did turn down a service animal and ended up costing him huge in terms of going to the Human Rights [Tribunal],” says Bezzina.

 

Transit Windsor also has a 

policy regarding service animals on city buses.

It states service animals must wear a vest identifying them as such, and the owner must have a note from a doctor or nurse with them.

 

                Source: http://blackburnnews.com/windsor/windsor-news/2017/01/06/uber-criticized-woman-service-dog-denied-service/

 

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