Heidi wrote:
In putting all lease services to ‘the back of the queue’ is indirect discrimination, but discrimination nonetheless. This is because the majority of people who use lease schemes are disabled.
That’s not correct Heidi. There are 600,000 Motability customers. There are a further 1.8m company car drivers in the U.K. using lease schemes. So disabled people represent around 25% of those who use leases and ALL lease drivers are experiencing these problems (plus a good number of private ones also). Whilst completely understanding your frustration (and the current situation is indeed rubbish), , I just don’t see how it can be labelled discrimination.
It’s way worse, actually, since you didn’t take private leasers into account.
MB has 600.000 customers, around that number. The number of leased cars on UK roads currently, according to the BVRLA, is around 5 million. So slightly more than 10% of all leasers are MB customers.
The argument boils down to “discrimination is not being given an advantage”, which i don’t agree with. Discrimination is not being treated equal in the same (not similar, but same) situation. It’s not discrimination against disabled if you book an economy ticket in a plane, and don’t receive a glass of bubbly like the abled woman in first class. If you want that glass of bubbly, you can buy that first class ticket, and receive it – discrimination would be if you wouldn’t receive it despite having a first class ticket. Not being able to afford said first class ticket isn’t discrimination either.
Same here. You can choose to buy private, and be treated the exact same as any other private buyer. Or you can chose to lease, then you get treated the same as any other leaser. Not being treated like a private buyer while being a leaser isn’t discrimination.
Discrimination would be if you buy private and get treated differently than an able bodied customer.
In reality, what the current situation is: utter bollocks. For everyone. But not discrimination. And i say that as someone who has to wait over a year for his new car. I don’t feel discriminated against, i just feel, well, pissed off at the current situation that leads to the waiting times in the first place.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.