Taxi Driver damaged my wheelchair - is it worth small claims?

Hi all

This is my first post here. I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I get taxis funded to university through DSA. Last month, I had an incident where the taxi driver told me he was not informed that I had a manual wheelchair (Quickie Life R), and was very distressed when I said I would need help dismantling it.

I attempted to instruct him on how to fold the back down (pull a handle on the back of the seat) and he did so, exclaiming that it didn't work. I was keen to get home at this point and asked if he could try to fit the frame in the boot without folding the back down - which he could. Once I got home he did help me walk into the house and bring the pieces of my chair in as well.

I immediately inspected the chair, and found the handleto be broken. My boyfriend has taken me to university that morning and it was in full working order. It had also been recently repaired so I don't think it was likely to break by itself.

The taxi company refused responsibility after I took pictures of the damage, Saying that DSA didn't tell them I had a chair. DSA admit this, but say this was because I told them I didn't need a specially adapted vehicle - which I did say. My chair can fit in most cars, but I did say the car would have to be big enough and assumed DSA would communicate this.

On the advice of Citizen's advice, I wrote a complaint letter. They repeated that they didn't know I had a chair and will not accept liability without independent evidence, which is impossible for me to provide. I spoke to CAB again, who said that using my boyfriend as a witness may not be enough - but I can try to bring a claim against them anyway. I couldn't take pictures of the chair immediately before the ride, as I can't stand independently to do so.

This whole experience has been very distressing for me, and I was wondering if anyone had been through the same. I appreciate my case might be weak, I just wanted to vent!