An Aberdeen taxi driver has won the right to ditch his wheelchair accessible motor – arguing some of his more frail customers were struggling to get into it.
Garry McNulty is one of the few drivers to successfully convince licensing chiefs of his need for a saloon car without a doctor’s line – if not the very first.
Aberdeen City Council ruled all new taxi drivers licensed after 1994 had to be wheelchair accessible.
And the majority of drivers allowed to stray from the policy have done so for medical reasons.
But Mr McNulty instead argued he should be exempt from the rules for the benefit of his main customer base – the hearing impaired.
Covid pandemic put Aberdeen taxi driver’s sign language skills in the limelight
The Northfield driver of nearly 20 years learned sign language growing up in order to communicate with his profoundly deaf sister and her friends.
And over a career outlasting five wheelchair accessible cabs, he built up a loyal group of hearing impaired customers who appreciate his ability to communicate with them.
“I have grown a customer base of deaf people who will text me or message me in writing to book taxis because of this,” he told the city licensing committee.
“And this grew after the Covid pandemic when deaf customers were a wee bit anxious because of the masks.
“The big reason for this request is, as we all get older, so do my customers and some of them have mobility issues.”
Mr McNulty’s customers who use walking sticks and frames are struggling to make the foot-high step up in his current vehicle.
Even with the use of a portable step and their driver’s help, they feel “shoogly and very unstable”, councillors were told.
But they continue to call upon him as they rely on his signing ability, which came to the fore when people’s faces were masked during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr McNulty has a bank of 23 customers who text him regularly for lifts.
Around 10 of them call upon him once a week and, of those, four or five have mobility issues.
Taxi driver turned down easier switch to saloon car to help clear queues at Aberdeen ranks
He could easily make the jump from wheelchair accessible vehicle to a saloon car by changing his licence from taxi to private hire car.
But the 54-year-old said that would prevent him from supporting efforts to clear taxi ranks at busy times of night in Aberdeen, which he highlighted as “an issue”.
“I would like to still do that part of the job and support the city,” he told councillors.
The arrival of Uber is hoped by business chiefs to help with the long taxi queues at peak times, though its not yet clear when the ride-hailing app will launch in Aberdeen.
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Charity backs taxi driver’s plea for licence switch
Mr McNulty’s bid for change had been endorsed, he said, by North East Sensory Services (Ness).
He produced print-outs of letter from the charity, which aids thousands of people with hearing or sight loss, at his hearing at the Town House.
Having shared the five copies of the note, councillors were quick to permit Mr McNulty to use a saloon car for his taxiing.
Asked if he was the only Aberdeen taxi driver fluent in British Sign Language, he said: “I have no idea. But as someone with deaf family, I hope not.”
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