Until now, dealing with disabled people on coach holidays has been something of a specialist and niche market, practised by a few key operators, such as Redwing Coaches in London, who have been able to commit resources to this market.
But this is about to change. Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 deals with disabled peoples’ rights to access to goods, facilities, services and premises.
In this original legislation, though, the use of a service, ‘so far as it consists of the use of a means of transport’, was specifically excluded, but the recently passed Disability Discrimination Act 2005 has amended Part 3 to narrow this exemption. It is due to become law early in 2007.
This is not to be confused with the vehicle requirements in Part 5 of the DDA. This requires wheelchair access on all new coaches from January 2005, but only on vehicles operating on regular services. Thus far, there is still no specific legislation requiring such access on touring coaches, but as you will see, that is not the end of the story. Likewise, this new Part 3 legislation will also affect the broader operation of coaches even if they are wheelchair-accessible, and many of the requirements are not limited to people who are wheelchair bound.
So how is this all going to work out in practice?
Well, it will be incumbent on a tour operator (whether the vehicle operator or not) to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure the rights of disabled people to board, travel and alight from a transport vehicle. It will not, currently, apply to air or shipping operations, but the legislation allows for them to be covered at some future time if the Government decides to introduce it.
The legislation is supplemented by a ‘Code of Practice’ which, while not law in itself, operates alongside the Act and provides definitions and case examples of certain situations and guidance on what is likely to be defined as a ‘reasonable adjustment’ in the eyes of the law.
It can be used in evidence in legal proceedings and the court must take into account any part of the Code that is relevant to the case. The Code cannot, clearly, be exhaustive, and there will be situations that arise that it doesn’t cover, but following the guidance in the Code may help avoid an adverse judgement in any case for discrimination. Ultimately, a lot of cases will be different and open to legal interpretation, so forward planning is the order of the day.
The key issue with the Act is that the transport provider has ‘a duty not to treat a disabled person less favourably’. As an operator, you will not ‘be able to refuse any service, which you offer to the general public; you cannot provide a lower standard of service; and you must make reasonable adjustments to avoid making it unreasonably difficult for the disabled person to use the service’.
As far as the definition of ‘favourably’ is concerned, there must be a connection between the treatment meted out to the customer and their disability.
On a practical level, in order to be able to ensure this duty is honoured, it would make sense for any operator to have a method of training staff to ensure their obligations under the Act is met. For example, in the case of tours, booking or reservations staff should know how to extract information from potential customers on the extent of their disability, so that as much assistance as practically possible can be given to that person.
Big operators, such as WA Shearings, already operate a ‘disabled persons helpline’ where the requirements of that person can be matched to the most appropriate product, and it would be seen as reasonable for any operator of any size to offer a similar service.
What will constitute ‘reasonableness’ in the context of vehicle specifications is not as clear, given that the Part 5 regulations do not currently affect touring coaches. However, by implication, you will have to justify to any customer that demands it, why you don’t offer a wheelchair lift on your vehicles. What might be reasonable would be to say that your vehicle purchase policy has not, to date, included such vehicles. What the law will require you to do is to consider this shortcoming and review your practice or vehicle purchasing policy so that this might be addressed at some future date. Moreover, this will need to be considered even without Part 5 requirements.
The Act does not seek to make you change your business overnight, but it does seek to make all operators consider how to deal with disability generally, even if over the longer term.
Another example, particularly on tours, might be how you deal with deaf people who cannot hear the commentary given by the tour manager.
If, in the booking process, you have established you have a deaf person on board, it would be considered reasonable for you to provide a written guide that they could read instead.
One issue that is clear is that the health and safety of both employees and other customers cannot be undermined when dealing with disabled customers. So, for example, it will be lawful to exclude the carriage of electric scooters if they cannot be dismantled to smaller parts that can be stowed easily. Likewise, a coach driver having to heave a disabled person on board with potential disastrous effects on his health would not be counted as reasonable, neither would it for a driver to have to administer medicines or act in any way as a ‘carer in absentia’.
Coach tours, of course, are different to local bus services in so far as they don’t have the benefit of permanent infrastructure. It will need some careful planning to ensure you don’t fall foul of the law, although clearly there will be issues that will enable you to demonstrate reasonableness. For example, on European tours, it is quite possible disabled facilities will not be as readily available as in the UK and this will need to be handled carefully. Where there might be alternative venues or itineraries that could be offered, they would need to be considered, but the Act does make provision for practicalities as well.
But, and this is a big but, the onus will be on the operator to ensure that systems and training are in place to enable you to justify your actions. Hoping the problem will go away is simply not an option. The Government have made it clear that they see the rights of those less able as a key part of having an inclusive society and as a human rights issue, businesses will have little to cry foul on.
The Disability Rights Commission has published the draft Code of Practice for the new law as part of an extensive consultation process. While CPT will be acting on behalf of the industry through a specialist-working group, all readers are encouraged to study the document and make comments or suggestions. The final date for comments on the proposals must be made by 19 August 2005 and the full text can be found as follows:
Website - www.drc-gb.org
Telephone - 08457 622633
Fax - 08457 622644
Post - DRC Helpline, FREEPOST, MID 02164,
Stratford on Avon CV37 9BR |
