Train spaces for prams/wheelchairs.

[MyOtherUserNameIsAUnicorn]

So I went out for my first foray into taking DS out for the day- on a train. Firstly, get to the train station no lift to the opposite platform. (I live in a town, I mean it's pretty backwater, but it's a town) so we could "book" a ramp crossing or have assistance. I had my friend with me and we declined both of these and lifted pram up stairs and across bridge. This was fine for us, but I imagine by yourself with a baby or someone in a wheelchair would be stuck.
So 1) AIBU to think that "booking a ramp crossing" is an insufficient adjustment for wheelchair users? If they want to travel north, and they don't get to the station 45 minutes before their train. Not possible.

Then we got on the train. The guard led us to the carriage with space for prams and wheelchairs. He also helped me lift the pram onto the train. There were a couple sitting in the pram/wheelchair seats with no obvious pram/wheelchair so we asked them to move if they didn't need the space. They did so rather grudgingly (there were other seats) the two men sat on the other side, loaded up their luggage right underneath the sign that says "this area is reserved for wheelchair last no luggage is to be placed here" then at the next stop a young couple with a pram boarded the train. The men just sat there surrounded by their copious luggage and let them struggle in the aisle. Eventually I squeezed my pram in and they could slot in beside me.
2) AIBU to think those men should have offered the space. Should I have said something? They definitely shouldn't have had all their luggage there. It wasn't a place for luggage there was a sign saying so.

**wheelchair users

You can let the people at the train station know if you're using a wheelchair and they will help you.

If you needed the space/someone else did for pram then yes I would have asked them to move the luggage if the pram was supposed to be there

Don't get me started. I had a similar experience last week, ended up taking DS out of the buggy, folding it and putting it where our feet went. He's only little so was fine, I had to sit with my knees around my ears! The man across the aisle said "You're going to be uncomfortable all the way!" I rarely say anything confrontational, but I did tell him that wasn't helpful.

He had 2 seats to himself and had spread his stuff all over them

@purpleme12 yes, that's what they told me. It just seems like a not very fair adjustment, that a wheelchair user would have to get there so early to use the crossing ramp with help from staff!
I did ask for me... I think I lost my nerve a bit asking for the other people. Felt like interfering.

What was really lovely was on the way back there were two teen boys sitting in the seats. They went to settle then one said "We shouldn't sit here what if someone with a baby or a wheelchair gets on,"
Just proactive and considerate. Lovely behaviour!

I ask people to move. A firm 'Excuse me, this is the accessible carriage for wheelchairs and prams, do you mind moving to a different part of the train?' If they look at me blankly I add 'I need to put my pram there.'

Some people mutter and complain about moving but most are very polite and say sorry I didn't realise, then move.

If someone had blocked the space with luggage I'd be tempted to move it all to the space by the doors.

The bit about the young boys is heartening!
I get the train quite a lot with a pram. And people with no apparent need to sit in that area love sitting there. I totally appreciate and support that wheelchair users trump pram users, but I think they should have some sort of ranking system, with luggage/ people who just want lots of room at the bottom, then people who have prams with bigger little ones in, then those with tiny babies in prams, then disabled and wheelchair users as top priority of course.
People do this on the bus all the time too - they just want to sit near to door, so they take up the pram and wheelchair spaces and the rest of the bus is empty.
That's pretty bad about the wheelchair access. I guess you'd just have to be very organised. It's a shame to have to rely so much on staff, when they could just install lifts or have an accessible entrance on the other side. It's not like train companies don't already take the absolute piss with ticket prices!

I often travel by train with my mother in a wheelchair. We always book our journeys and book assistance and we have never had any problems with with crossing stations etc. The wheelchair space is reserved for my mother and the seat on the other side of the table is reserved for me and we have had help to get on to the train - often we have been boarded first.

But we had one journey from Paddington where we arrived early, were seated first as always and very grateful to have our seats. A young couple came on with a baby in a large pushchair which they placed in the other wheelchair space but the guard refused to let them leave it there. They had to take it apart, fold it up and store it overhead and on their laps - along with the luggage and the baby. As a carer with a wheelchair we had an easy journey but for a family with any sort of pushchair other than a small light stroller and luggage it was a nightmare.

We have a similar issue with the local bus. We catch the bus near the beginning of the route and when there have been pushchairs in the space they have had to move for us - we've never asked. People have always offered.. But there is one bus every hour and that bus has only one wheelchair space so if you use a stop half a mile away you might not get on.

From our experience we would say that wheelchair users are well catered for on public transport compared with pushchairs and prams.