Bus driver refused to make passenger leave

Thank you for setting me straight I was going to have a sleepless night over it.

If a parent uses the wheelchair space they need to willing to either collage the pram, move elsewhere or get off the bus.

the wheelchair space has been fought for by wheelchair users, it isn’t a space for anyone who fancies it.

So, no, you do not know what assault is

"Common assault is when a person inflicts violence on someone else or makes them think they are going to be attacked. It does not have to involve physical violence. Threatening words or a raised fist is enough for the crime to have been committed provided the victim thinks that they are about to be attacked."

Many unhinged aggressive people seem to use public transport-I too have had incidents and it’s no wonder people want to use cars to keep away from aggressive assholes like these.

@ThatRareUmberJoker You have completely misconstrued the point of my post. If you had read it correctly, you would have seen that I said I was not criticising or judging, but curious.
I had assumed that being in a wheelchair meant that you didn't use walking sticks - and I had wondered how you could manage/manoeuvre both at the same time. Fortunately two other PPs explained why a person could indeed need both.
I was expressing no opinion whatsoever as to whether OP's actions were right or wrong.
Hope that sets things straight for you.

I sometimes get on a bus with a bunch of other people and get kicked off because the driver's shift has overrun. We get told to get onto the next bus.

It always takes ages to board because lots of people refuse to tap again, claiming they'll be charged twice. No, they've literally tapped about 10 mintues ago, so they won't get charged for tapping again.

I don't know why, but I don't think the Hopper fare is that well understood... it's brilliant, it's £1.75 for unlimited buses within an hour.

There are signs saying wheelchair priority and buggies must move but I think there should also be signs saying general passengers need to move as well since people don't seem to have any common sense. If there is literally nowhere for the passengers to move to then the bus hopper fare in London allows them to catch another bus for free within an hour I think. In the sticks I'm not sure how it works if you have someone with a baby/pram in the middle of nowhere and ask them to leave the bus. Presumably they are given another ticket unless it's the last bus.

I get it, I am disabled myself after a long stay in ICU in 2020 and 2023 albeit not in a wheelchair and I find it utterly disgusting that they didn't move I was just trying to work out possibly why this happened.
You shouldn't have had to deal with what you had to do, people are horrible and I hope you are ok. Well done for sticking up for yourself and I'm sorry if I came across wrong.

Bystander syndrome is horrible, no one helped us when someone tried to attack my husband (he accidentally stepped on this teenagers foot because it was stuck out quite far into the aisle). He just tried to stand in front of me/protect me because I was 8 months pregnant. Bus driver didn't stop or ask the person to get off even through the intercom which would have not put him in harms way. The driver is also behind a locked compartment on our buses.

Yes, I agree 100%.

Although sadly the cost of bouncers would out-price many people from travelling.

I also made the point that bouncers were needed! (I.e. old school conductors with updated security training.)

There are always a lot of idiots on buses and as horrible and unsettling as that feels for us passengers... it must be even worse for the driver, stuck in a tiny area with only a glass shield for protection. They can't exactly run away.

No one should have to feel unsafe at work.

It would also be quite useful to design buses with more space on them where the route goes past any of the big stations as chances are, people will have suitcases.

And if the space isn't filled with cases, the passengers will stand in it.

Then someone will try to get on with cases and the passengers won't move....

It would also be quite useful to design buses with more space on them where the route goes past any of the big stations as chances are, people will have suitcases.

How do you make more space for luggage without reducing space for passengers?

It's not unknown round here (not London) for drivers to refuse to drive parts of some routes, because one or more drivers have been assaulted, or things have been thrown at buses.

Yes and when that alarm does go off, nobody calls the police to help the driver. They just get their phones out and film it to upload on tiktok for likes and LOL's instead. Unfortunately a driver cannot make anyone leave a bus. They rely on passengers being civilised enough to behave like grown ups. When there is trouble on board If you see a driver raise his hand to press a button on the control panel above his seat it's usually because he's requesting assistance discreetly in the hope revenue inspectors or police might be near the next stops to get on and intervene. It's a thankless job and my partner often comes home saying he hates his job and wants to leave after yet another day of persistent abuse, threats and fare evasion from passengers.

There is no vulnerability comparison here and it's baffling that you think there is.

Parents traveled on busses for decades without wheelchair spaces. They now don't always have to, but once in a blue moon if they do (because let's face it, how many wheelchair users do you see on a bus on a regular basis?) then they'll just have to get off and get on the one behind.

It's a nice/convenient thing for parents to have on a bus, but it's imperative for wheelchair users.

That's where the real vulnerability lies.

They should ,but when it's categorically a wheelchair space ,that mums with buggies csn use when there are no wheelchairs, then obviously wheelchairs take priority

I see you've totally missed my point. Buses should have more space for people who need it.

It shouldn't come down to putting one vulnerable user off the bus because another person needs the same space!

TBH, some London bus routes - and in particular, night bus routes - could do with a conductor. And when I say conductor, I really mean trained and licensed bouncer. People have no common decency and the driver is there to drive not get involved in situations where they feel unsafe.

It would make life easier for wheelchair chair users, lone women would be safer, and it would reduce fare evasion.

However, prices would have to go up to pay for the extra salaries.

Pushchair users can be oblivious. I was on the bus once when the wheelchair space had two buggies wedged in there and there was no more space. A couple with a double buggy got on, and couldn't figure out why the driver wouldn't move when their pram with kids in it was in the doorway and not securely parked...

A lot of prams are bigger and bigger these days too. They should all be easy to collapse with one hand and not designed as shopping trolleys that parents feel unable to collapse because even if you can take the baby out, they're rammed with stuff.

I also find wheelchair ramps are often broken, and that shouldn't be acceptable. I've seen people struggle to get off the bus because the ramp has broken after they've got on. I think if you've let a wheelchair user onto your bus and the ramp has then stopped working, your default solution should not be to keep driving and to only remain in place where other bus users have taken it into their own hands to block the doors to stop the driver from leaving, and to help carry the chair off the bus. I just think some drivers are atrocious towards chair users.

It would also be quite useful to design buses with more space on them where the route goes past any of the big stations as chances are, people will have suitcases. It would help avoid the confrontation altogether if more people's needs were being met at the same time.