A private hire driver has admitted failing to pick up a partially-sighted customer because he had a guide dog. Gurmail Singh Sanghera refused to take James Linton to a rehabilitation centre in Edgbaston, Birmingham, in May 2004.
Birmingham magistrates heard Sanghera, of Pritchard Close, Smethwick, thought there was too little room for Mr Linton, his dog and two other people.
The 54-year-old driver was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of �465.
 |  Any private hire firms tempted to copy the driver's actions will also find themselves in court |
Birmingham City Council brought the prosecution after Mr Linton complained.
Sanghera's employers, Touchwood Private Hire, had a contract with the authority to transport visually-impaired passengers from their homes to the rehabilitation centre.
It is an offence under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 for private hire or Hackney Carriage drivers to refuse a contracted booking by failing to allow an assistance dog into their vehicles.
Sanghera claimed he was not discriminating against Mr Linton, and had taken dogs into his vehicle before.
Councillor David Osbourne, the city council's Chair of Licencing said: "We will not tolerate discrimination, and any private hire firms tempted to copy the driver's actions will also find themselves in court."
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