To be very very angry? (Disabled DS denied wheelchair space on bus - again)

[LifeHope11]

DS (11y) was about to get on the bus with his carer but the driver refused to let them on....shook his head and said 'sorry you can't get on, there are two prams in the space' and then shut the doors and drove off.

DH & I are both livid, this is not the first time this has happened.

DH complained to the bus company.....the first person he spoke to claimed that if there are 2 prams on board they take priority over a wheelchair! That was news to us, and appears to contradict the notices on the wheelchair spaces on the buses which states that priority is given to wheelchairs and anyone else in the space must give way etc. DH refused to accept this response & demanded to speak to a manager who gave him a case number. So we are waiting to hear more.

i feel that our DS has been discriminated against and denied his right to travel freely. Just to be sure, we don't blame the owners of the buggies on the bus....they were never even asked to move & probably were not aware of anything. But I don't want this kind of treatment of the disabled to be acceptable any more and I want things to change.

I think bus drivers just don't want the hassle i was getting on a bus a few weeks ago with my pram there was a girl in a wheel chair on already but plenty of space driver said no theres a wheelchair on which i kind of thought theres still a tone of space but ok when the mother of the child in the wheelchair said to bus driver plently of space it's a wheel chair not a jeep and i was let on. He just couldn't be bothered waiting while she moved to let me in. I'm sure he would have done the same either way.

In my buggy pushing days, you weren't even allowed on the bus unless the buggy was folded and there was room in the rack to stash it. How times change.

The drivers round me are like Iteotwawki describes - I've known them to get out of their seat to help with the buggy.

this happened to me years ago and prams/pushchairs do not take precedent over disabled vehicles (of any kind :o) I complained, bus company apologetic. Never happened again. I decided to learn to drive

Trickle, do you have EDS? I have EDS3 and use crutches or a stick but can see a power chair in my future. People can't quite grasp the fact that we can't just work out and then self propell do they?

Yakbutter, when I lived in London years ago, I needed to complain about a bus driver, so I found the number of the local bus depot in Thomson Local or the 'Phone Book and rang them up.

madmouse - We have that issue with DS2 in his Mac Major and have had a number of nasty comments aimed his direction from judgemental idiots who think it's their God-given right to comment because they've decided that in their opinion he's too old to be in (what appears to be) a pushchair. I refuse to explain myself to them - it's not their business to know his medical history. Unfortunately, some people are lacking in common sense and will not have the brains to realise that 99.9% of parents are not going to put an older child in a pushchair unless there is an actual need. The Mac Major to some extent looks like a normal pushchair, just a bit bigger.

I did fleeting wonder when on this thread last night if any MacMajor users have been expected to make way for wheelchair users? I decided probably not.

but wouldn't a Major user be able to go in a buggy space, so the wheelchair gets on, the Major user goes in the buggy space, buggy is folded.

the hard thing with Majors is educating people.

Yanbu at all. I have found most London bus drivers (no all)to be grumpy and unfriendly. I would have taken his badge number and reported him. Even a lot of the people are out for themselves there, they might not have moved their buggies. I grew up in greater London btw but live in sunny MK.

Madmouse, I would have hoped that a buggy for a disabled child would have the same status as a wheelchair - its functionally the same thing surely, to allow a disabled person to travel. I would have hoped most people would treat it that way even if its not the letter of the law.

Write to your MP and the local paper. Then write to the Bus company attaching the letters and their policy. That often has quite an impact.

I am grateful to MN for teaching me what a macmajor is and what it looks like. Not that I was running around with my judgeypants on previously but it's good to know.

Haven't read the whole thread but there are certainly more than a few people out there who need to learn that on most (all?) buses, there is NO SUCH THING as a pushchair space. Its a wheelchair space that can be used by pushchairs if there is no wheelchair user wanting the space at the time.

This sort of thing really makes me

people do not treat a buggy for a disabled child in the same way as a wheelchair, unfortunately.

DD1 (8, fairly severely disabled) is in a 3-wheel buggy - the big SN version of a mountain buggy - because the best places to take her for a walk round our way aren't accessible to a 4-wheeler.

We got onto an empty train going into London, and sat in one of the 2 free wheelchair spots. Train company employee got on at the next stop and tried to chuck us out because "a wheelchair user is getting on. And that is a wheelchair space." I said, "well, that is a wheelchair space, too. With nobody in it. And this is a wheelchair. So we'll stay here, thanks." I must have had my "don't mess with me" face on. Because after that he didn't.

OP - bus (and rail, and don't get me started on airport...) staff rarely know their own policies on wheelchair access. Definitely complain and take it as far up the organisation as it will go, because that's the only way that anyone in the bus company is ever going to get trained on how this is supposed to work.

r3dh3d I think we need a mn campaign. something should be done to help people who use majors.
we had one at one time, and no way could I have taked dd(severely disabled) out of it, it was her pre wheelchair.
I think there should be a card that could be flashed at jobsworth

zeeboo no I have HMS - but depending on the Dr you speak to some consider it EDS 3. I used an elbow crutch till my first pregnancy but my pelvis seems to have destabilised and refuses to stick back together again. The upside to a wheelchair is it's much safer to use the bus - no more fear of falling and undoing something

Personally, if we were going to get on a bus with DS2 (in his Mac Major) and someone else was already on with a child in one taking up the wheelchair spot, we'd simply wait for the next bus, as we would if someone with a wheelchair was already in the spot. Thankfully, we haven't yet been in the position that a regular buggy was in the wheelchair spot (I think mainly because our stop is pretty close to the beginning of the bus route), but I suppose one day it'll happen.

Not only that London bus drivers can be so bloody rud and I have encountered a fair share of them in m life

Thanks all for your responses. We will do what several of you suggested, complain to the bus company and follow up with our MP, Transport for London, the Mayor etc and insist this is put to rights.

I have checked the info on Transport for London's website which makes clear that it is a priority wheelchair space and if any buggies are occupying it will be asked by the driver to clear the space and fold the buggies - so already what we told initially by the bus company on complaining turns out to be nonsense. There seems to be a lot of ignorance among some bus staff and some members of the public as to what the wheelchair space is for & how it should be used - unfortunately it is people like DS & us who suffer for it.

BTW if a child was occupying a special needs buggy I would consider it as a wheelchair & no way would I expect it to be moved for DS. I am familiar with these as DS had a sn buggy before 'graduating' to a wheelchair. If in doubt, if the accompanying parent confirms it is a sn buggy that is good enough for me. The only time it may be reasonable to deny a space is if the bus is completely packed and there is nowhere for anyone to move....but we avoid those times of day anyway.

I once had an idiot driver tell me that dd could travel in her wheelchair "but if anyone gets on with a pram, she'll have to get off".

cory - that's really shocking. Were you in a wheelchair space at the time