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Britain
Muslim Cabbie Kicks Out Family For Carrying Wine
2012-04-15
A MUSLIM taxi driver has been sacked after refusing to let a family take an unopened bottle of wine into his car because it went against his religion.

Adrian Cartwright, 46, booked the cab to take his wife and young daughter on a five-minute journey to an Indian restaurant for an early evening meal.

But he was left fuming when the private hire driver booted them out of the taxi after he spotted they had an unopened bottle of white wine.

Mr Cartwright later wrote about the incident in detail on Facebook -- prompting the driver's Asian-run taxi firm to sack him.

He said: "We all got inside the car and the driver said: 'Is that alcohol?' When I said 'yes' he replied: 'I am sorry but I can't allow it in my cab -- it's against my religion'.

"I knew it wasn't worth arguing so we had to get out."

He added: "The meal I had that evening was a Halal meal, whose methods I don't agree with, but tolerate out of respect.

"I expect anyone offering a public service to do the same, and will be contacting the licensing department to suggest that the driver is politely asked to do so, or hand his badge back."

Mr Cartwright complained to Borough Cars in Royton, near Oldham, Greater Manchester, and the self-employed cabbie was fired 30 minutes later.

The firm, a co-operative of 70 predominantly Moslem drivers, apologised and sent another driver two minutes later.

In an emergency meeting of its chairman and four directors, the firm then decided to dismiss the unnamed driver, thought to be in his 20s, who had only been working for the company for 10 weeks.

The company's former chairman Fazal Rahim, who has also been a driver with the firm for 24 years, said the decision to axe the man was unanimous. Mr Rahim, 51, told the Daily Express: "I am a practicing Moslem, like a lot of the drivers. This was not a decision based on race or religion, however, but about being a professional taxi driver.

"As taxi drivers, we cannot be moral coppers. If I picked a customer up from a pub, should I ask him if he has been drinking? Of course not.

"We need to provide a great service to our customers and as a company we have prided ourselves on that for many years. I don't know the lad in question but I can only put this down to youthful ignorance.

"We take people wherever they need to go, whether to a pub, church, mosque or synagogue."

The cab was booked at 6pm on Easter Sunday.

The Cartwrights had the bottle of wine because the restaurant they were heading to is unlicensed but allows customers to bring their own alcohol.

In a statement, Borough Cars added: "We would like to apologise to Mr Cartwright and his family for any upset or offence caused."

Mr Cartwright preferred not to add to the comments he made on Facebook.

But a family friend said last night: "Adrian has friends of all faiths and the last thing he wants to do is for this to be about race or religion -- he just complained because of poor customer service."
Posted by:trailing wife

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