To think the London Underground staff who use 'elf and safety as an excuse not to help people with buggies at stations without lifts are basically being bone idle

[quesadilla]

Tried to get into central London yesterday alone with dd in buggy. At two separate stations without lifts I asked for help and was told they couldn't because of health and safety or insurance. (And i have heard this several times before.) Given that only about 10 per cent of tube stations have lifts I think refusing to help in any way is lame and amounts to discrimination, albeit of a passive and unintentional kind. I know that sounds a bit hysterical but the practical outcome of this situation is that if your child needs to be in a buggy and if you don't have anyone with you to help you you cannot travel on the underground...

If you were helping someone carry a buggy up and down stairs all day every day, then you would need to know how to do it properly otherwise you would almost certainly end up with back pain.

But you are coming across as if you couldn't care less about anyone else, as long as you get to demand help with your buggy when you want it without having to alter your own choices at all.

In most places I have worked and a lot of them were offices you were trained how to carry heavy objects

I am perfectly capable of lifting a pram without training, once....but doing it day in and day out many times a day would be hard work..

And I assume these staff actually have a job to do, not just helping with buggies

Good post kmc

And OP you are quite right to be pissed off, most of us have been there...but you are still BU

I've never expected anyone else to take responsibility about my choice to have a child. If I'm going somewhere I know access will be difficult I take a sling, or a lightweight stroller, go to a different station, get a cab, or drive. Not sulk about no one laying out the red carpet and providing a personal valet service.

You can get those hip seat things,like a belt with a padded seat for baby to rest on whilst you hold them steady. Really comfy to use.

some jobsworth standing there with folded arms saying he/she can't help
oh right so they are 'jobsworths' now - you are really not coming over v well here quesa, you sound really arrogant and 'entitled'.

quesadilla - you'll be unsurprised to hear that this thread has been done before on here. The people that work in the tube stations are doing their job - checking the barriers, keeping on eye on stuff, helping passengers with travel queries. They can't spend their days lugging pushchairs up and down stairs, nor should they. They're not lazy, you're sounding absurdly entitled.

When I lived in London I very rarely had to bump my buggy up an entire flight on my own - some kind other passenger would usually help. But if not, I was perfectly capable of doing it on my own. If you can't, you need to get another buggy or find a different way of getting around.

I am slightly incredulous that people think you need training to help someone carry a pram up some stairs.

Exactly this, absolute barking!!

Why can't you just buy a buggy that you can fold while you carry it with one hand, and carry your dd or hold her hand with the other?

Plan your route to only use stations with lifts and buses. I live in central London and refuse to carry my pram up and down stairs even when with DH.

It's all about planning. Don't be dependant on others to sort your problems out.

Or there's those buggys that turn into backpack seats for babies. Lots of options out there.

I am slightly incredulous that people think you need training to help someone carry a pram up some stairs. Well, clearly you do, as op herself cant manage!

YABU.
You try doing it with a wheelchair. You HAVE to plan around accessible stations or find another option.

Mind you the London Underground is wonderful compared to the Paris Metro?

That "jobsworth" (how dare you) probably gets 30 people an hour expecting help, could have their own health problems and has to do their ACTUAL job too - ensuring trains arrive/leave on time safely etc...

YOU however should be making YOUR travel choices based on YOUR ability to handle YOUR choice of buggy... that little thing called YOUR responsibility.

I've always had helpful commuters help with buggy if required.

I would not ask LU staff very much - they don't ever seem that helpful or customer service focussed in my experience anyhow.

Isn't the unwritten rule of public transport that if you can't carry your stuff yourself, you don't travel with that stuff (unless you fit into the category of people that are entitled to help)? If you can't carry your pram folded, don't use it on public transport.

YABU. If staff injure themselves carrying a buggy/luggage they are not covered under the accident at work policy and will have to go sick, which may well lead to disciplinary action if they have previously been ill. Also if they were to drop the child the ramifications would be horrendous. The company would be sued and the staff member would be at the very least disciplined for carrying the child in the first place.

The conditions of carriage on LU state that you can only bring on the train what you can manage to carry yourself. So if you are unable to manage your buggy then don't bring it.

Thank god I learned to drive before TTC. Especially seeing as I ended up having twins. Although in saying that I have never been short of offers of help when out and about, which is just as well as according to some of the posts here it should be really easy to hold two babies and fold a pram and carry it downstairs without any help. No wonder some new mothers feel isolated and alone given the 'tough shit, you chose to have children' attitude.

I don't drive. My DH works. I have no family living close by.
I don't have a pushchair now, but what should I have done then, juts stayed within walking distance of the house?

Let me think.... get a buggy you can fold up and use on public transport perhaps?

you don't take the babies out of the buggy to go up and down steps....
just leave them in situ.
I had twins and used the tube a few times to get to GOS, and there was really no problem as the general public were so helpful.

My dd is too big for a sling

I carried DD in a sling until she was 3. Obviously only for short distances/emergencies by that stage - I wouldn't have wanted to go hiking :). I also used a Hippy Chick hip seat. By the time she was genuinely too heavy for a sling, she could stand and wait for me to fold a buggy and stand directly in front of me on an escalator.

Do you need training to lift heavy/awkward items regularly? Of course you fucking do. Bearing in mind they think one of the reasons I now have severe mobility problems is through doing jobs where heavy/awkward lifting was common, I'd say it's really fucking important.

We bought a really light stroller to use when I was going on public transport. I remember being 8 months pregnant and lugging DS(then 2) and his stroller up and down the stairs at the train station. Sometimes I was offered help but mostly I just got with it myself and took our time.

People always offer to help me on the tube . TBH I rarely take them up on it unless I have loads of shopping. I got a very light weight stroller with a shoulder strap and either carry DD in it or fold it and have her walk holding my hand. A friend has a massive pushchair and if no-one offers to help ( rare) then she just asks someone politely and they say yes or no. It's no great drama.

am slightly incredulous that people think you need training to help someone carry a pram up some stairs.

You are missing the point, the vast majority of people do not need traning to carry a buggy, however, in order for LU to get insurance cover for their staff they are only permitted to carry out activities within the scope of their job description, carrying buggies is not in that job description. If you want to blame someone blame the army of personal injury lawyers and the compensation culture that has people making any old claim if they think they can make a fast buck. It is often cheaper for large organisations to pay a claim than to defend it in court, as a result insurance companies demand every tighter rules in their policy agreements and often these rules infringe on what we would call 'common sense' or 'random acts of kindness'.

YABU.

Lifting with an unknown lifting partner is very risky - people lift too early, drop too early or just plain don't pull their weight. The issue is not that THEY aren't trained, but they don't know what YOU will do.

get it wrong and the worker has a strained back or shoulder, goes off sick and possibly gets fired.

buy a lightweight buggy or check out the tube stations with step free access and use buses. The underground was not designed for full accessibility so those who whine about having it changed are in lala land.