To think it's common sense to let a w/c user have the w/c spot

[SparkyStar84]

I've just seen the ruling on disabled people getting priority in disabled spots on buses. Isn't that common sense. What kind of person would deny a w/c user the space because 'pushchair'?
I'm a w/c user it makes it easier in a way to get about with children, though I know some w/c users still have a buggy.
This is about the parents who refuse to move, when asked, by someone who might have an appt or something important to get too. Not saying the parent doesn't. But isn't that the point of foldable buggies over great big travel systems?
It just bugs me that people have had to leave the bus because a parent wouldn't move. As a parent with kids of many ages, also remembering times gone by, the purpose of easy foldable buggies is that you can decamp when on the bus.
Do you think it's an issue that buses need to provide buggy spaces too?

I'm due my first shortly. We only have one car that DH uses to get to work. I bought my travel system being fully aware i will be using public transport and bought one that collapses right down with the buggy attachment. (Hubby can do one handed, not mastered this yet). Obviously when the carrycot attachment is being used i wont be able to collapse it.

If i have the carrycot pram and a wheelchair user required the space it wouldn't even occur to me to refuse them the space. With buggy it will be easy to collapse and store.

This was a deliberate choice of travel system on our part as the spaces are for wheelchairs.

Trifle, that is not correct, they are not reserved for wheelchairs or buggies, they are reserved for wheelchairs, with buggies (and others) allowed to use them if wheelchair users do not currently need them. This is again not an option, this is a fact.

trifle is the reason that this has had to go all the way to the Supreme court

Selfish individuals who won't listen to calm reason, and insist their selfish needs trump the hard-won and long-established legal rights of the disabled.

Because in an actual situation where Trifle was asked to move, they would stamp and wail about having bought a ticket as if shelling out £1.50 gets you supreme rights.

I'm sorry this poor man had to take it this far, but I'm really glad he did if it means dreadful and selfish individuals can now be put back in their box, and the wheelchair user can point to having the law on their side

I am glad the court found in favour of w/c users but if parents in buggies constantly refuse to move it can mean the w/c user may have a long wait at a bus stop which is unfair and many w/c users can't wait in cold weather for example as they can then end up very ill. And not every area has buses that run frequently.

Soubriquet: I can't agree with you. My baby is safer in her pram. At the moment she feeds every couple of hours. If I am on a bus it's because my journey is necessary - shopping or GP or clinic. I am not going to get off and I am not going to put her at risk. No matter what you say.

trifle

I am a fit and healthy childless woman in her early 30s. If I were sitting in a fold down chair in the wheelchair space and you got on with your pram, would you expect me to move? If so, why? What if there were no seats anywhere else? After all I have paid for my seat and am just trying to use the facilities same as you.

(Disclaimer: of course I would move).

Used to have a light fold down buggy for eldest DS on the buses for exactly this reason.

The only thing that slightly worries me is that I have twins now and it's simply a physical impossibility to deal with two infants and fold down a buggy. But in fairness most wheelchair users are reasonable and if they can see folding isn't an option then unless they're really pressed for time they often offer to wait for the next one. Although I am always willing to get off occasionally if I have very hungry screaming twins I will accept the offer. Will this ruling mean they can't choose to do that and the mother has to be removed by the driver?

Good job the law disagrees does it Trifle?

Clearly trifle is the first person ever to have a baby and use the bus. Ever.

FFS. Entitlement personified.

SaorAlbaGuBrath;

if the driver finds the refusal to move unreasonable

With a buggy, not a new baby in a pram, it would be unreasonable.

trifle you are coming across as incredibly selfish and ignorant. If you don't want to risk you precious little bundle on your knee then don't get on the bus. The rest of us manage to not be idiots ok, give it a go hey.

You keep a sling or baby carrier in the prams basket. When a w/c user gets on, you pop baby in it and fold up pram. It's perfectly simple. I'm sure most people would help you or offer you a seat in such circumstances.

GingerIvy: Entitlement to use the service I paid for - yes.

How is it any 'safer' to take a bigger baby out a pram compared to a newborn? Lame excuse.

I don't believe Trifleorbust is for real. I think it's someone just trying to demonstrate how self-obsessed first time parents can be.

If you are for real, get a sling and learn how to put it on quickly. Most parents managed fine with these before wheelchair spaces became widespread.

I can't believe people like Trifle exist. When I wasn't confident that I'd be able to fold my pram when I had my newborn PFB I was prepared to get off the bus if a person using a wheelchair got on, and then I started using a sling instead as it was just easier. I've managed to fold a buggy while carrying a newborn and dealing with a tantrumming toddler and holding my shopping; it was hard work and horrible but that's nothing compared to having a lifelong disability, is it?

Parents have alternatives, people using wheelchairs do not.

Trifle, you would have to get off the bus. You would not have a choice if you were told. Unless you fancy being arrested and ending up in court.

I really don't know what the matter is with you that means you can't understand why you are so wrong. You seem to be acting like this situation is a matter of opinion when it really isn't. There is a black and white right and wrong to this.

Trifle then walk! Fuck me, having a baby doesn't make you special. It doesn't mean you have supreme rights over everything, it doesn't mean you're all of a sudden somehow more important. I have 3 kids and manage to go about my day without feeling the need to belittle and dismiss other people's needs because I popped a baby out of me
You have the option of walking, of finding other transport, of making your journey in a different way. Someone using a wheelchair doesn't. Next you'll be telling us they shouldn't go out because your baby takes priority. Because it's pretty much what you're already saying.

Why can't you do what I used to do?

Take off the seat/carrycot/car seat, store it on the seat next to you and then collapse the frame

I'm assuming that's what you mean by a "pram and not a buggy"

Trifle Like the w/c user, I paid for my ticket and if I need the space as much as he/she does and I was there first, he/she can wait for the next one.

But presumably you haven't bought a ticket for the baby or the pram so maybe you should be allowed to stay on but the baby and pram can get off. The wheelchair user on the other hand has paid for a ticket.

Trifle, do stop embarrassing yourself further.

She's a baby. She's not the only person in the world. She'll survive in a sling or a cheap Maclaren like ours all did.

And what on earth makes you think that the bus is less essential to a disabled person than to you? Do disabled passengers only travel for fun?

formerbabe: I have already said why I won't do that. Moving bus, new baby, pram and sling = putting my baby at risk. Not going to do it. In a few weeks she will be in a buggy and I will cheerfully move.

Entitlement to use the service I paid for - yes.

Nope. You paid for transport. Not for a seat, and not for the wheelchair space. Transport only.

There is no point in arguing with someone so entitled that they would not automatically give precedence to a wheelchair user. Which is why it's a good thing that now there is no "should" or "shouldn't", only the law.

Trifle is winding people up. Nobody could be that thick.