Taxi driver ordered to pay €12k to blind couple after refusing lift over guide dog

Seán McCárthaigh

A taxi driver has been ordered to pay compensation of €12,000 to a blind couple after he refused to give them a lift at the taxi rank in Heuston Station in Dublin because they had a guide dog.

The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that the taxi driver, Abiodun Dongo, had discriminated against Lisa O’Donovan and her partner, Anthony Clarke, on grounds of disability in breach of the Equal Status Act 2000.

The couple, who are visually impaired, told the WRC that they proceeded to the taxi rank in Heuston Station in Dublin on December 27th, 2024, after arriving on a train from Cork.

Both O’Donovan and Clarke gave evidence that Dongo reacted abruptly and stated that he would not take the guide dog.

They both claimed that the taxi driver had shouted at them in a most aggressive and abusive manner before winding up the window of his car and driving off abruptly.

O’Donovan and Clarke told the WRC that they were hugely embarrassed and humiliated by the experience.

In her ruling, WRC adjudication officer, Valerie Murtagh, said she found the complainants were credible witnesses who provided cogent and compelling testimony.

Murtagh said O’Donovan as a person who is visually impaired and who also has a hearing impairment as well as Clarke were entitled to be provided with reasonable accommodation when accessing services.

She noted their guide dog was clearly identifiable on the date in question because of its working guide dog uniform.

Based on the couple’s uncontested evidence, the WRC ruled they had been discriminated against by the refusal to provide them with a taxi service which had caused them unnecessary upset and humiliation.

Murtagh ordered Dongo to pay €6,000 compensation each to O’Donovan and Clarke.

She also ordered the taxi driver to ensure that he is in compliance with the relevant equality legislation in future.

Dongo did not attend a hearing of the case before the WRC.

The 58-year-old taxi driver and father of five from Cappaghfinn Road, Finglas, Dublin 11, was earlier this year fined €1,000 by the Dublin District Court and ordered to pay legal costs of €750 over the same incident.

Dongo was prosecuted by the National Transport Authority under the Taxi Regulation Act over his refusal to take the couple and their guide dog in his taxi.

The court heard an Iarnród Éireann official had jotted down the taxi driver’s registration plate.

Judge Anthony Halpin said the attitude of Dongo and another taxi driver prosecuted for the same offence towards two vulnerable people was “disappointing and wholly unacceptable.”

The court heard Dongo had claimed he was allergic to dogs and took off after collecting another passenger.