To think it is polite for people with buggies to fold them when a bus is busy

[SilverStreak7]

I suppose this will have mixed replies .

I am not talking of prams with sleeping babies in or even the buggies with sleeping toddlers in but those parents whom have a buggy with say a 4 year old in who is awake and who will not fold down said buggy when a single decker is getting very packed .

The other day I was on a bus and two buggies were on there , one had one of those boards at the back where an older child can stand (I do not know what they are called as never had one) , Now, the child was asleep but that is not the issue ,, The Mother watched an elderly lady slowly go by as this board was sticking out , then another pram tried to leave the bus and only at the last minute (after much struggling by the leaving Mother) did she push up the board ! Ive also seen people refuse to fold them up as a wheelchair wishes to get on .

Sorry, but you are fighting a straw woman. I have never not made way for a wheelchair user on a bus. Let's be clear about that.

And you do realise that, if I were still living in the UK, as a private citizen I do not have to comply with that law? It applies, if I'm not mistaken, to service providers and employers. Yes, I'd have to do what the driver said, because he'd have to follow that law, but not me, capisce? Correct me if I am wrong; I am only familiar (all too familiar, as a lawyer) with the NZ equivalent.

"Thanks for playing" is evidently a phrase you are unfamiliar with. It is not my job to explain it to you.

Also: mumsnet.com is on the world wide web. Sorry, you can't keep us foreigners out.

Do you want some vinegar for the chip on your shoulder themaltese?

Overreaction much?

Still. .you fight for your right to not be legally bound to fold for a wheelchair user even if you would anyway. Go you

I've experienced this with a major buggy as my dd2 needed one for 3 years when she couldn't weight bear due to a hip condition. Sniffy entitled people with monster prams expecting me to fold a buggy while holding a 5 year old under my arm to top her screaming in pain.

I am best buddies with many FirstGlasgow bus drivers now who always stood up for me (and dd) and am sometimes amazed I've not been mown down by a mob of angry monster pram-pushers!

Almost as bad were the (always little, always old) ladies who would look at dd in her massive disabled buggy and ask "aren't you a bit big for a buggy." Well, duh! She was in her school uniform reading a book. She developed a wonderfully withering look and eye roll.

Maltese I'm wondering what your reason is for prioritising a sleeping baby over, say, my dd?

surely anyone with sense would prioritise a wheelchair user over a sleeping baby. Babies are not made out of spun silk you know. They dont explode on being moved or woken!

Dd has been in a wheelchair since 3 yrs old. Bus arrived with 2 prams on, one toddler and the other a sleeping baby. The two ladies were so busy chatting they didn't hear the bus driver asking them to close the prams. When they did hear they both started arguing and getting angry. Bus driver was going red in the face and other passengers were getting involved.

In the end I asked a lovely lady also waiting at the bus stop to hold my hand and changing bag. Picked up dd out of her wheelchair and sat her next to a young lad sat in the first seats. I asked him to just put his arm around her as she was unable to balance without support. He did better than that and scooped her up into his lap and gave her his iPod to play with. I closed dd's wheelchair and driver helped bring it on to the bus (bus was a hospital bus so he realised I probably had an appointment to get to) driver was very apologetic but the lovely lady got onto the bus gave the two ladies a stern telling off which ended up with bus applauding and shouting. The lad held dd all the way to the hospital. The chatting mms satin silence the whole journey and anyone getting off the bus would mutter that they should be ashamed of themselves.

I know dd had a right to that space and the driver should have told them to get off but I hate arguments and fighting. We spend most of our lives fighting for dd's life that if people feel they are entitled to that space more than a wheelchair user then let them have it....I have bigger fish to fry :)

Have passed my driving now and have a car with wheelchair access so dd can drive straight in .... Now spend my time trying to avoid disabled bay arguments!!!

Legally and morally wheelchair users come first. The rest can fight it out afaic.

Someone mentioned other passengers not helping unless asked. That's not surprising really having seen some of the threads on here that go along the lines of "OMG!! OMG!! someone just touched my baby's cheek with their finger. How dare they. He's now contaminated. What can I do to prevent some stranger contaminating my child again."...or words to that effect

However, most people will be happy to help if asked.

That is so shocking GettingAnnoyed. I hope they were ashamed later (but I doubt it)

No, I was just trying to point out to RevoltedMu that "in the mean time [sic] follow the law!" is not a good argument for at least two distinct reasons.

Again, away with your straw women. I do care a lot for personal reasons about the rights of wheelchair users, as it happens.

I also believe (young) sleeping babies should not be woken.

That obviously makes me some kind of arsehole in Mumsnetland. Oh well. I'll live.

Wheelchair usera get priority over prams as prams can be folded, even the shitty tank I have that comes in two pieces, then you have the bags and small child to contend with.

When I've had to get off the bus (when DS2 was little and I couldn't fold the pram) the driver let the next driver know I was waiting to let me on the bus. Which was nice.

Well you said it themaltesefalcon

Hands themaltesefalcon a toy and a pram to throw in her game!

Prefer tomato sauce to vinegar, actually, Fanjo.

No no it must be brown sauce (only Edinburgh and Glasgow people will get that one probably)

To be honest I'm sick to the back teeth of prams in the wheelchair space. dd is 9 and quadriplegic. Her wheelchair doesnt fold and has an oxygen cylinder on it as well as her feed pump and yet time and again mums with a teeny baby will not fold and vacate the wheelchair space. Often we get verbal abuse using the R-word and S-word which dd understands well enough.
I'd blanket ban all unfolded prams now because once they started using them, they became entitled and now think they fucking own them and will not move. Disabled people campaigned for those spaces for fucking decades.
I am no longer polite about it. It's the ONE space we can use on the bus. A pram can be folded and the mum and baby sit in any of the other 30 or 40 spaces.

Well, after a story like GettingAnnoyed2013's, I can understand better why people feel so strongly. That's just appalling.

Leaving thread because my toddler is waking up and yes, she DOES explode upon waking.

Twisty..you should be legally allowed to punch them IMO.

in future Fanjo, I intend to collect her full continence pads and use them as grenades

Oh you must. With photos

my child is 3 she still has a buggy. i mostly take her out of the buggy now and fold it. if she does happen to be in it. and someone needs the space more than me then i take her out and fold it.

the thing i hate the most is when people leave their buggy in the space with no child in it.

and i would defo 100% fold it for a wheelchair user.

A partial solution seems to be for everywhere to have buses like ours. 2 spaces just for buggies/prams, wheelchairs couldn't use them and a wheelchair space which can hold 2 buggies when not required for a wheelchair. Then everyone has a chance of a space.

Christ, twistyfeet, that's gobsmackingly horrible (typing while breastfeeding, not ignoring exploding toddler).

I was wrong.

Revised list:

1. wheelchair user
2. sleeping baby
3. elderly / otherwise mobility-impaired person.
4. sleeping toddler.
5. everyone else.

Again, the buses in my home country are so roomy that there' unlikely to be a situation in which it has to be the needs of a wheelchair user vs. those of a sleeping baby. Apologies if have caused needless annoyance.

When I say wheelchair couldn't use them I mean physically cannot use them in case that wasn't clear.

Is there anything we can do about this to stop this kind of stuff happening? I can't believe people think its okay to treat people like this :(

hermyown. probably nothing unless there are seperate wheel chair buses. seperate buggy buses. although the bus driver should tell the person fold up your pram they often dont want to become involved. maybe bring back the bus conductor

Educating people is a start but I am not prepared to educate people in front of my daughter. The number of times we have been verbally abused is shocking and something dd should not have to deal with. Always remember for every selfish entitled person there is an amazing person usually around the corner. The lad on the bus that day was only about 17/18 and is still in our lives a year later :)