03/03/2017 Midlands Today


03/03/2017

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A blind man from Birmingham says taxis operated by the online firm

:00:09.:00:14.

Uber have repeatedly refused to pick him up because he

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Saleh Ahmed, from Balsall Heath, claims it's happened 14 times

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It's illegal for taxi drivers to discriminate

:00:23.:00:25.

against guide dog owners, unless they have

:00:26.:00:27.

Tonight, Uber says it's barred two drivers while they investigate.

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Blind since birth, Saleh Ahmed relies on his guide dog Johnny.

:00:32.:00:41.

Without him, his 30-mile journey to work would be so much harder.

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Sal uses the taxi hailing app Uber to travel to and from his home

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in Balsall Heath and New Street Station.

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On Monday, though, four rides were cancelled because drivers

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I asked him if he had a medical certificate.

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He instantly cancelled the ride, and I was charged the ?3.50

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Taxis and minicabs are obliged to take guide dogs,

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unless the driver has a medical reason not to.

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Sal says it's happened 14 times with Uber rides

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Like, it stresses me out just to know that,

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because I have a disability, I have been treated differently.

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And I cannot book a taxi like everyone else does.

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Uber said it was totally unacceptable and told us this.

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Like Saleh, the drivers who refused him were Muslim,

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and he believes it betrays a cultural dislike of dogs.

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Mohammed is an ambassador for Guide Dogs for the Blind,

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and takes his dog, Solo, to schools to introduce

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In Islam, if a dog's saliva gets on your clothes,

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But his local mosque has built Solo a kennel.

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Mohammed has taken cab companies to court for refusing him a ride.

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One driver was fined ?350 and sent on a disability awareness course.

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I do not think the drivers are being punished enough.

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I think there need to be more severe consequences.

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And one of the reasons for this is it is under-reported.

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Saleh says he and John may have to consider alternative

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Giles Latcham, BBC Midlands Today, Birmingham.

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A man who dropped his wallet and lost ?1,600 is appealing

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for information about the woman who picked it up.

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The woman spotted the wallet in the road and kept it.

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The victim says the loss nearly cost him his small music business.

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He's putting the can in the back of the car now.

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I reach up to close the door and bump, my wallet

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CCTV of the moment he dropped his wallet outside a hire

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It's what happens next that makes Clive angry.

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Within a few moments, a woman in a Toyota Corolla

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has stopped, got out, and picked it up.

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I don't think she even gets a chance to put her seat belt on.

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She drives off still with her hazards on.

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I think she needs to come clean and confess and hand it in.

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CCTV from inside the shop shows the theft from a different angle.

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Owner Matt Dormer saw the woman pick something up but didn't

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realise it was Clive's wallet until afterwards.

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She has fair hair, about five feet tall.

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Frustratingly for Clive, you can't make out the woman's

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So far, the police investigation has come to nothing

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Clive set up his music business with his retirement money.

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He says says the loss of the ?1,600 could put him under.

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He is now offering a ?200 reward for anyone who helps him

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Sarah Bishop, BBC Midlands Today, in Tardebigbe.

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Five newborn puppies have been found abandoned in a car

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They were discovered in a box in Baker Street with their eyes shut

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A vet who examined the pups said they'd been exposed

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Sport now, and Stratford's Andrew Pozzi has won a gold medal

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at the European Indoor athletics championships in Belgrade.

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Pozzi, whose career has been blighted by injury,

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claimed his first major medal by edging out Pascal

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I thought I might have got it but I wasn't sure,

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so I didn't want to celebrate until I was sure.

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It was a scrappy race but I really had to work hard to get

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I don't want to harp on about it, but it has been a long road

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and I wasn't always sure I would get to the level I wanted to be at.

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So, you know, to really win with grit and determination,

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Birmingham City have slipped to a home defeat

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against Leeds United in the Championship this evening.

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Leeds took an early lead when former Blues loanee Chris Wood scored

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Birmingham piled on the pressure after half-time and deservedly

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But the home side quickly conceded two more goals,

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the second of which was scored by Alfonso Pedraza.

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The Midlands' latest professional boxer makes her debut tomorrow.

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32-year-old Lauren Johnson - who's studying criminalogy

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at the University of Wolverhampton - took up boxing four years ago

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At first, I thought, I will just see how it goes for a year.

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And then I never looked back, really.

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You get in the ring and the buzz, getting your hand raised...

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And it's just something I am probably addicted to, really.

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Well, I'm afraid it has been a rather miserable day today.

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We had quite a lot of mist around, we have had quite a lot

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As we head through this weekend, that is going to be

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We are in a messy weather system at the moment, with low pressure

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Through tonight, we will continue to see some showers working

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Behind that, we will start to see things drying out

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But temperatures are holding up at between 5-7 Celsius tonight,

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so it's not a particularly chilly night and it will be a dry start

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to the day tomorrow but the low pressure still continuing

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There will be some brighter breaks but we have got weather systems

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trying to work their way in the whole weekend.

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So we start the day tomorrow on a dry note with some sunny spells

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There will be some brighter spells at times but showers will pop

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Lots of usable weather through the day, though,

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and temperatures managing to make it up to nine Celsius.

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The winds will continue to strengthen as we head

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And for Sunday, we have some heavy rain on the way.

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There is more information on that in the national forecast next.

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I will leave you with the outlook for the next few days.

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Good evening, mixed fortunes this weekend. Today we saw a fair share

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of rain. This is the view one of our weather watchers in Doncaster. Not

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particularly inspiring. This weekend there will be some rain, but some of

:07:52.:07:57.

us will get away with a dry start. This is the satellite and a lovely

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day in northern

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