{"id":21248,"date":"2020-05-01T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T15:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=21248"},"modified":"2020-05-01T16:47:30","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T15:47:30","slug":"suspend-london-dial-a-ride-service-call-after-driver-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=21248","title":{"rendered":"Suspend London Dial-a-Ride service call after driver dies"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Following the tragic death of Unite member Patrick David last weekend from Covid-19, Unite is demanding that Transport for London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dial-a-Ride service, for which Mr David worked, be temporarily suspended during the current pandemic.<\/p>\n

Mr David had worked for Dial-a-Ride for over 17 years.<\/p>\n

The service is specifically for elderly and disabled residents in London who have mobility issues and who could not otherwise use public transport; passengers are collected directly from their homes.<\/p>\n

Transport for London (TfL) has worked in conjunction with Unite to minimise the risk to the drivers. This includes introducing measures such as only one passenger per vehicle at any one time and drivers\u00c2\u00a0now\u00c2\u00a0being provided with sufficient PPE for each customer.<\/p>\n

But as drivers also undertake the role of \u00e2\u20ac\u015bloader\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and help passengers onto vehicles and then fasten them in, it is impossible for vital social distancing to be achieved at all times.<\/p>\n

Given the death of Mr David and the vulnerable nature of the passengers that Dial-a-Ride transports, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s membership at the organisation believes that the risk to both passengers and drivers is so great that the service should be suspended \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and only restarted when risks have been substantially reduced.<\/p>\n

Unite is calling on\u00c2\u00a0TfL to\u00c2\u00a0work with local authorities to ensure elderly and disabled service users are supported through the many community initiatives that are delivering food and medicines to vulnerable people during this crisis.<\/p>\n

Despite Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request to TfL to suspend the service following Mr David\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death, the proposal has currently been rejected.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe thoughts of everyone at Unite and\u00c2\u00a0our members at\u00c2\u00a0Dial-a-Ride are with Patrick David\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family at their terrible time,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Unite regional officer Simon McCartney said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGiven the tragic death of Patrick David and the impossibility for drivers to socially distance from passengers and the very vulnerable nature of service users, Unite regrettably believes the Dial-a-Ride service should be suspended.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis was a very difficult call for our members to make as many of them have dedicated their lives to working for Dial-a-Ride and they appreciate the service is a lifeline for many of its users.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite believes that the service should be suspended\u00c2\u00a0until it is safe to resume.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is hoped that TfL recognises the concerns of our members,\u00c2\u00a0agrees to suspend the service\u00c2\u00a0and works with local authorities to ensure that these elderly and disabled passengers are supported through the many community initiatives that deliver food and medicines to vulnerable people during this crisis.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnce the service is suspended, Unite is committed to working with TfL to introduce measures to get it up and operating again as quickly as possible,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

During the coronavirus crisis Unite is working to keep workers and the public safe, to defend jobs and to protect incomes.<\/a><\/p>\n

By UNITElive team @unitetheunion <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the tragic death of Unite member Patrick David last weekend from Covid-19, Unite is demanding that Transport for London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dial-a-Ride service, for which Mr David worked, be temporarily suspended during the current pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[1295,198,597,290,33,238],"wps_subtitle":"Tragic death leads Unite to call for suspension during outbreak","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21248"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21250,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21248\/revisions\/21250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}