Councillor left barking mad after taxis refuse to take dog

Now Coun James Taylor wants to warn people that taxis might refuse to pick them up with their pets after he had trouble with his hound Henry.

Coun Taylor was driving his mum and fellow councillor Kath Taylor to work in Crosland Hill when the clutch on his car went last Sunday, May 5.

Luckily, one of Kath’s colleagues was able to pick up the Taylors, and four-year-old Henry who loves car journeys and had gone for the ride.

But Coun Taylor hit trouble when he was trying to book a taxi to pick up him and Henry from his mum’s office and drive them back to Mirfield.

“We rang lots of taxi companies in Huddersfield and not one would take a dog and me,” Coun Taylor said.

“None of them would bring him home so I had to come home by myself and leave the dog. He was crying and he was howling when I left him.”

Coun Kath Taylor’s colleague had to take the dog home later that day.

That night, Coun Taylor rang 30 taxi companies asking if they would take his dog to the vets, and only two agreed.

“What happens if you’ve not got a car and your dog has a heart attack in the middle of the night?” Coun Taylor said.

The law says that taxi drivers should allow pets unless they have a reasonable excuse, but Akooji Badat from the Kirklees Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Associations, said it was at driver’s discretion. “I don’t have a problem taking dogs,” he said.

“At night, some of the customers we pick up are drunk and puking, and some dogs are much better.”