Elderly wheelchair user almost misses wife’s funeral over taxi woes
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An elderly wheelchair user nearly missed his own wife’s funeral after unsuccessful attempts by his family to book an accessible taxi.
Humphrey Dinan travelled home from France with his family to attend his mother’s funeral which took place last Monday. However, booking an accessible taxi to take his 92-year-old dad from Sunday’s Well to the Church of the Most Precious Blood, Clogheen, proved impossible even with advanced notice.
The Cork native had to pull out all the stops to source alternative transport which was organised through the popular Mums of Glanmire Facebook page. Mr Dinan said he was extremely grateful to the people who helped his family, but he is also determined to highlight the experience as a means to help others.
The father-of-three told the how hard it was to get a taxi.
“A lot of the websites only had options to send an email or Facebook message. There was no traditional number with an operator you could just ring up and ask for a cab. A couple of them came back and said sorry that they couldn’t facilitate it.”
He said it was an unnecessary stress for a grieving family.
“I try not to get angry but it definitely was frustrating. The point is I had to take an hour out of my day just before my 90-year-old mother’s funeral to find a way of making sure my dad made it to the church with us. This was time I should have been spending with my mother who was waked at home.
"It was time that I should have spent chatting to her and also supporting my children who found it all very difficult. Instead, I had to spend it trying to get a taxi. I don’t want this to be picked up and turned into a political battle piece because it doesn’t need to be. What it needs to be is a quick fix.”
He said having to use alternative transport was difficult for everyone involved.
“We had to try and squeeze my dad into this Skoda Octavia. Trying to help him in was horrible. It just wasn’t a nice experience. This was an emotive time anyway. We are all upset that mum is gone but all somebody had to say was “I have a taxi and I’ll come and pick you up.”
"It’s 2024 and with Cork being a major city I thought we would have better access to facilities like this.”
Mr Dinan described how their efforts using apps like Uber were also in vain.
“I'm a great believer in keeping things very simple. People have a tendency these days to over-complicate things and over-emphasise the importance of technology.
"There are multiple apps and various forms of technology available but on this occasion they didn’t help. The function was to provide this type of service to a person in a wheelchair, but nobody was able to do that.”
Mr Dinan says he fears for younger generations with disabilities trying to avail of transport.
“The question is 'how is it that someone tried to get a wheelchair taxi but couldn’t?'
"It’s unfair and also cruel. It makes you think about how difficult it must be for young people with disabilities who would like to just go out and broaden their horizons on a Sunday afternoon.”
- This story is part of a special report on the Cork taxi crisis. The full report is available here.