The Equality Commission has produced a Code of Practice on the Provision and Use of Transport Vehicles which explains the law and provides guidance to transport providers, advisors and disabled people on the scope of the Disability Transport Regulations.

As well as complying with the legislation, making services more accessible and marketing them as such is likely to increase an operator´s attractiveness to disabled passengers, who represent around 1 in 5 people in Northern Ireland.

• Download the Code of Practice (PDF 264kb, 77 pages)

The law defines hire or rental vehicles as vehicles up to a certain size which are hired out by a person who does so in the course of a business.

They are:

• Vehicles constructed to carry passengers, with no more than eight seats in addition to the driver´s seat;
• Vehicles constructed to carry passengers, with more than eight seats in addition to the driver´s seat, and with a maximum weight of 5 tonnes; and
• Vehicles constructed to carry goods, with a maximum weight of 3.5 tonnes
• In the case of a service offered in relation to the provision or use of the type of rental vehicle descibed in the first bullet point above, a transport provider also has a duty to:
• overcome a physical feature which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of this service, by:
• removing the feature; or
• altering it; or
• providing a reasonable means of avoiding it; or
• providing a reasonable alternative method of making the service available.

Disabled people can encounter unfair treatment in transport in many ways. Here are a few examples of how a disabled person may be discriminated against by a vehicle rental service provider:

• A vehicle rental operator charges a disabled person more than a non disabled person for hiring a car as they assume that the disabled person is more likely to have a car accident. The vehicle rental operator is treating a disabled person less favourably because of their disability. If, however, the operator can show that they are charging the disabled person extra because the person has had a number of accidents in a short period of time, they may be able to justify charging more. This would not be discrimination as the operator is levying an extra cost because of the person’s driving record and not their disability.
• A deaf customer with an assistance dog phones a vehicle rental company to rent a car. The vehicle rental operator has a policy of adding additional charges to clean a car if a dog has been on board. The customer tries to explain to the company that they have an assistance dog because they are deaf but the charge is added regardless. The vehicle rental operator has failed to make a reasonable adjustment for the disabled customer which may amount to discrimination.
• As part of the vehicle hire process a rental operator at an airport sends all of their customers from the booking desk to find their car themselves in the car park, accompanied by a map. The car park at the airport is not wheelchair accessible and as a result a wheelchair user can not access their hire car. The staff at the desk should arrange for the car to be brought to the front of the airport building which is accessible so that a wheelchair user can access the car. This would be making a 'reasonable adjustment'.