{"id":434152,"date":"2026-05-05T23:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/434152\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T23:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:27:12","slug":"abusive-taxi-driver-to-pay-e12000-to-visually-impaired-couple-for-refusal-of-service-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/434152\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Abusive\u2019 taxi driver to pay \u20ac12,000 to visually impaired couple for refusal of service \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An \u201cabusive\u201d Dublin<\/a> taxi driver has been ordered to pay \u20ac12,000 to a visually impaired couple for refusing them service and driving off without them and their guide dog at Christmas time. <\/p>\n

Anthony Clarke and his partner Lisa O\u2019Donovan told an equality hearing the driver, Abiodun Dongo, was \u201cabusive and aggressive\u201d and left them \u201chugely embarrassed and humiliated\u201d in the December 27th, 2024, incident at Heuston Station in Dublin. <\/p>\n

Clarke, who is blind, and O\u2019Donovan, who is also visually impaired, have now secured findings of disability discrimination in breach of the Equal Status Act 1998 against Dongo at the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC). <\/p>\n

The couple had travelled from Cork that morning with the assistance of Clarke\u2019s guide dog and approached Dongo in his car at the railway station\u2019s taxi rank, they said in their complaints to the tribunal. <\/p>\n

Dongo \u201creacted abruptly\u201d to their request for a taxi service and said he would not take the guide dog, they said. <\/p>\n

The taxi man shouted at the couple in an \u201caggressive and abusive\u201d manner and then \u201cwound up the car window and drove off abruptly\u201d, they told the commission. <\/p>\n

Clarke and O\u2019Donovan said they were both \u201chugely embarrassed and humiliated by the experience\u201d. <\/p>\n

The complaints were called on twice for hearing in January and April this year in Dublin. <\/p>\n

Adjudication officer Valerie Murtagh noted in decision documents published today that Dongo \u201cdid not attend\u201d. <\/p>\n

She wrote that both Clarke and O\u2019Donovan were \u201ccredible\u201d witnesses and upheld their complaints on the basis of their uncontested evidence. <\/p>\n

They were both \u201cdiscriminated against on grounds of disability\u201d and were also denied reasonable accommodation by Dongo, she found. <\/p>\n

\u201cI find in favour of the complainant,\u201d Murtagh wrote in both cases. <\/p>\n

She directed payment of \u20ac6,000 each to Clarke and O\u2019Donovan for the effects of the discrimination. <\/p>\n

\u201cI further order the respondent to ensure, going forward, that he is in compliance with the relevant equality legislation,\u201d Murtagh concluded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An \u201cabusive\u201d Dublin taxi driver has been ordered to pay \u20ac12,000 to a visually impaired couple for refusing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,615,61,60,6465],"class_list":["post-434152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}