Bus driver refused to make passenger leave

Not everyone who uses a wheelchair cannot stand or walk a small distance unaided. As an example, the other day my DM used a wheelchair to get from the car and around the supermarket but got out and walked a few steps to sit down in the cafe. Wheelchair was folded up and put to the side until she needed it again. She needs the stick for the transfer

Sounds a horrible situation, but bus drivers (certainly for some companies anyway I don’t know about all) are actually not allowed to leave their cab for reasons such as this. They are not insured to forcibly remove people from their buses, there’s all manner of liability and health and safety issues, they can actually get sacked if they leave their cab and try and physically deal with a situation like this. As I say this may not be across the board but I know certain companies this is definitely the case.

This is not unusual.

Many wheelchair users need sticks to get in and out of their chairs and to use the toilet etc.

Difficulty is, was there anywhere for the luggage to go if moved? Not saying it had rights over the OP, but logistically, where there empty racks etc?

@MobilityCat Apologies if someone has already asked this............I'm a bit confused. You were unable to use the wheelchair space as it was taken up by luggage and people.
But then you refer to your walking stick, and potentially hitting the aggressive man with it.
So were you in your wheelchair and using a walking stick?
Not judging or criticising, just curious.

I was on a bus just going from the main NEC building to one of the car parks. The driver was quite persistent in making the people leave the wheelchair area. Unfortunately the woman in the wheelchair couldn't go up the ramp anyway as the bus was parked on an angle due to the curving curb.

Should of rung the police the bus drivers don’t have any powers to remove people

I certainly wouldn’t expect the driver to get involved in confrontation
every year there are 1000,s of physical assaults on people working with the public

there paid to drive not deal with thugs and line themselves up for a kicking

Supposed you be happy for him to get assaulted

Unfortunately, most people, including me, are afraid of being assaulted/stabbed/hurt themselves by clearly unstable and threatening people. A large, threatening, verbally abusive man in an enclosed space (bus) would be intimidating to anyone in that situation and very few are equipped to physically help in that situation other than call the police.

The bus driver refuses to move. Works very quickly as noone wants to be kept waiting.

The driver should have refused to move until OP was safely in the wheelchair space. That's what they do round here. Surely it contravenes health and safety otherwise.

The driver shouldn't have lowered the ramp and let the OP on in her wheelchair, until the wheelchair space was clear.

Because yes, otherwise it very much contravenes health and safety.

For the OP and for the other bus passengers.

I moved out of London and bus drivers go above and beyond where I live. Bus drivers in London don't give a shit.

When I had the pram I walked. It was pointless trying to get on a bus no one is moving out the way it's too packed.

Only if the wheelchair space is full with a wheelchair. If it's not the OP has every right to board the bus.

The driver should have refused to move until OP was safely in the wheelchair space. That's what they do round here. Surely it contravenes health and safety otherwise.

Not in London

In an ideal world that is what they would do but the reality is that control often wouldn’t be sympathetic and would just tell them to get on with it. They are more concerned about keeping to timetables

I read and I disagreed. So posts that don't agree with yours must be irrelevant 😃

Yes you can.

And lets face it, it's not something that's going to happen everyday.

There's far more chance of a bus breaking down and other bus drivers having to work around that.

I did say that, followed in the same post by:

He should have refused to move the bus though, it doesn't sound like a safe situation for anyone.

It's always good to read the whole post before you respond to someone. It makes your posts more relevant.

I've been on buses where the driver says the bus is going nowhere until the disruptive passenger gets off. It's the best action they can take. I once managed to order some naughty school children off a bus using my school teacher voice. Funnily enough they obeyed. It appears there's a lot of bystander passive behaviour with other passengers not willing to intervene.

It depends where you are. You can’t stay and hold up traffic or prevent other buses getting to the bus stop in a city.

No, you said Bus drivers can't make people get out of wheelchair spaces or make people get off the bus. They're not paid enough to risk their safety for this

They can and they do. They stop the bus. And people then get ot of wheelchair spaces or get off. And if they don't, they radio to control. They don't need martial arts. They are well trained and know how to handle this situation and are paid to do so

I am disabled, not a wheelchair user, but my disability is obvious.
Travelling home on a bus (early evening) the driver allowed a man on that was so drunk, when he dropped all his money whilst trying to pay, he fell over. He also appeared to have pissed himself.
He then proceeded to letch over a young woman, who moved several times to get away, until finally getting off.
As the bus rounded a very slight bend in the road this drunken idiot fell on me. I was completely freaked out (past trauma) and I found energy I didn't know I had and shoved him on the floor!
As I exited the bus shortly after I asked the driver why he'd let him on when he could see he was so drunk.
He shrugged his shoulders.
@MobilityCat I can only imagine how difficult travelling is for you. I'm angry on your behalf that there seems no safe way of upholding the law regarding wheelchair spaces on buses. Why have an unenforceable law 🤷🏻‍♀️
I totally understand that a driver shouldn't leave his cab, and a PP said they get agro if they run late unless it's a police matter, so the driver is not going to solve this.
If you need to rely on common decency from fellow (arseholes) humans then therein lies the problem. Unfortunately other people's selfishness is not fixable 😔

Then the driver stops the bus and no one goes anywhere. That pretty ,uch invariably gets the selfish shit to move, particularly given the whole bus will be giving him daggers by thatpoint

That's literally what I said and you disagreed with!

I'm with MoodyMargaret on this one. The driver needs reporting as he was clearly in breach of the bus company protocol in respect of wheelchair users. This isn't the first case that I have heard of and it truly sickens me the way some people treat the disabled in society. I was once a wheelchair user and was often tutted at and shoved out of they way - one woman deliberately leaned against the side of my chair in an attempt to tip me out sideways; she didn't need to get anywhere, simply felt that it was ok to bully me.