to think that some parents are indeed entitled and expect special treatment JUST because they have young dc?

[Mintyy]

I was on a bus (we all love these threads, yes?) the other day and a lovely family - Mum, Dad, two young boys (about 4 and 2 I would say) and a baby in a back carrier on Mum's back got on.

Dad parked the McClaren pushchair in the wheelchair space and I thought to myself "blimey, they've got a lot of children on their hands".

After a while we came to a stop where two women with pushchairs wanted to get on. The first one did, the second could see there was no space and looked a bit cheesed off, as you would.

THEN I noticed that the McClaren was actually empty and the family had all gone upstairs to the top deck if you please! So not only was this other pushchair user unable to get on because there was an empty one in the space, but what if a wheelchair user had wanted to get on? Did they expect someone to shout up the stairs for them to come and move the buggy?

Well, yes. Witness the people who won't move buggies to allow wheelchair users in. Witness the people who come on here to say they regularly use disabled toilets and should be allowed to do so because they have small children, even when there are ordinary toilets available and separate baby changing facilities.

They left their pushchair downstairs on a bus. Did that really warrant the subject title?

I think using the wheelchair space for an empty (easily foldable) pushchair is a whole new level of entitlement .

What thread title would you have used cantbelieve?

It's many years since I had a child in a buggy but don't people fold them up if a child isn't in it?

Ah, but is a McLaren easily foldable?

We need to know before we can judge.

Is there an outside chance they didn't know? They may not use buses regularly. Your title comes across as bit ranty and over the top IMO

Yes Mc Larens are foldable by definition.

Well, some selfish people also become parents.

Yes that is incredibly selfish behaviour however the title sounds like a dig at them specifically because they have young DC (they may have always been entitled) sometimes I think there is (ironically for a parenting website) a vein of hostility towards parents running through many threads on MN.

They didn't know ... what?

There are invariably large signs by those spaces saying they are wheelchair spaces. If you are standing there manoeuvring a buggy in, it's really quite hard to miss them.

I don't think you should automatically gold a buggy down because your child is not in it. I took my son out of his buggy yesterday because he was throwing a tantrum. I was on my own, the bus was packed. I was not about to fold the buggy down and juggle my already screaming toddler in case someone wanted to get on. As it was, no one needed to. Obviously if a wheelchair came on, very different and I would have indeed folded the buggy with hope someone would help with the toddler.

However if there is two of you, it is 10x easier to fold the buggy so they could have done the decent thing and one of them folded the buggy so someone else could get on but they are no way bound to do that.

Agree OP. Many have no manners and are no doubt training their kids to be the same. Appalling behaviour in restaurants, supermarkets, etc by so-called middle class people.

Second pushchair mum should have just folded Top Deck Family's McLaren. Sorted.

It was just a suggestion/possible reason Icimoi
God forbid there could be a reasonable explanation aside from these people being branded selfish, entitled and expecting special treatment

an unfolded pushchair? on a bus? this certainly warrants a thread.

gosh.

An unfolfded pushchair on a bus which meant that another mum with a young baby in a pushchair couldn't get on.

It wouldn't have been a problem if one of them was downstairs to make way if required. But somehow they both forgot their manners. Perhaps they were both horrendously sleep deprived and have pureed carrots for brains pre-empting somewhat .

I'm secretly hoping one of the parents is a Mumsnetter and will read this thread and catch on.

Think you have over reacted a bit to this one incident.
It wasa bit thoughtless of them, yes, but I think may of us are maybe a bit thoughtless from time to time.

If it wereme, and another buggy user or wheelchair user got on, i would indeed go upstairs and ask them nicely. You never know, they might have folded it without question

I don't always fold my buggy if I have my son on my lap but I would stay downstairs and move if someone else needed the space.

I would have been tempted to get up and fold it so the others could fit on. Very selfish behaviour.

It is selfish. It's not a storage space. Yes, it's probably easier not to fold it up but life is much better if you think about other people.

Sadly, there are many people in this world who only think of themselves. All types of people. Life would be much better if people were considerate.

Personally - if I'd have seen the other mum couldn't have got on, I would have moved the pushchair out of the way. And then folded it up.

Just to see the look on the face when they come downstairs.

(There seem to be lots of thread police around at the moment saying which threads are ok to start. )

Yeah they were selfish YANBU but you will get a whole thread full of people explaining why it is not possible to fold an umbrella fold on a bus for X, Y and Z reason. I would not leave a buggy unattended on a bus because of the possibility of a wheelchair user needing the space.

I've seen bus drivers roar up the stairs at parents to come down and fold the empty buggy.
I once saw on in Lambeth threaten to
put the empty buggy off the bus when a man refused to fold for a wheelchair.

Perhaps they were looking out of the window and saw that no wheelchair user was trying to get on?