A disability rights campaigner has described her frustration after a taxi driver drove off without her once he spotted her guide dog. Deborah Persaud, the chair of a disabled campaign group Transport for All, was left the side of the road in Dalston, east London, with her guide dog Betty and heavy bags after taxi driver Rahim Eren refused to take her.
![[The guide dog Betty being held by Deborah Persaud who was refused a taxi service in London.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235932109-2b32.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Ms Persaud, who also works as a civil servant, had pre-booked a taxi with the company ComCab, which is owned by Addison Lee, to take her to a friend’s 50th birthday party in Kings Cross, central London, on August 10. She said she booked it several days in advance with the company and notified them she had a guide dog and would need assistance.
![[Deborah Persaud, the chair of Transport for All, who was refused a service by a taxi driver when travelling with her guide dog.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235932117-3d1b.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
But when Eren pulled up, he said he was ‘not taking the dog,’ citing an allergy. When Ms Persaud asked to see his exemption certificate, he just ‘sped off.’. She told Metro: ‘It’s not the first time it’s happened and I doubt it is the last, and that’s a real shame.
![[Deborah Persaud, the chair of Transport for All, with her guide dog Betty outside a train station.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235932133-c094.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
‘One of the reasons I rely on this service is because I can tell them beforehand that I’m a disabled person and that I’m travelling with a guide dog so I get the support that I need to travel. ‘I told him that he needed to carry us and he refused.
![[Deborah Persaud, the chair of Transport for All, with her guide dog Betty outside a train station.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235932115-8e95.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
‘He was booked to provide a service and he refused, there wasn’t anything controversial or difficult about it. ‘The next thing is, how am I going to get there because I was literally left stranded on the curbside with my dog and my luggage.’. She eventually managed to get a different taxi with ComCab, but she ended up being an hour late to her friend’s party, which she had organised.
