An advert issued by Northamptonshire County Council asking for a “female, white and non-Muslim” taxi driver has been labelled “deeply disturbing and outrageous” by a Muslim faith group in the county.
The Chronicle & Echo revealed yesterday that the council had issued the tender for private firms to bid for the contract, which would require them to transport a vulnerable child to and from school.
Yousuf Miah, chairman of Northamptonshire Muslim Council called for those responsible for the advertisement to “be held to account”.
He said: “Having made the error, I am pleased to see that the council has swiftly apologised and promised to look into the matter.
“This advertisement discriminates on several fronts including gender, race and religion.
“I can accept the gender choice in some instances but the other two are outrageous and unacceptable and I see no reason to exclude non-whites or the people of a particular faith.
“I would be very keen to see just what the circumstances were to warrant such a specific requirement.”
He added that the advertisement’s specific exclusion of Muslim applicants was very damaging to the council’s relationship with the Islam community in Northamptonshire.
He said: “Are we going to exclude a white female who is Muslim simply because of her faith?
“The fact that it makes specific mention of just the Muslim faith is deeply disturbing. This type of discrimination is totally unacceptable in our diverse society and particularly damaging to community relations.”
A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police said no complaints about the advertisement had been received but added the force would investigate if the case was referred to officers.
A spokesman for the council said: “We’re committed to carrying out a full review of this situation. That review will be conducted by the council’s head of policy, who leads our equalities team, supported by our head of legal services.
“The review will examine the circumstances leading to the error as well as identifying what went wrong and what actions we need to take as a result.”
The council has previously said there was no suspicion of anyone being deliberately discriminatory and that there were specific reasons for the criteria.