To be disgusted by this?

[SerenDippitty]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-44858107

What if it had been another mother with a prank occupying the wheelchair space? Would she have felt entitled to ask her to move?

Whenever I go out and about with non disabled friends they are absolutely appalled at how bad accessibility is. But its not a thing non disabled people notice until they have to.

Whenever I go out and about with non disabled friends they are absolutely appalled at how bad accessibility is. But its not a thing non disabled people notice until they have to.

After a while, generally, non disabled people simply stop inviting disabled friends out. Quite simply, less hassle.

What the Ffffff Uckkkkkkk 😨😱😠😡🤬🤬🤬

When I tried to use a train with ds to get into London I asked where the wheelchair area was - that train didn’t have one, only the newer trains have them. Asked what time the next accessible train was and couldn’t be told “luckily” I could lift his chair on and we travelled in comfort outside the toilets

Quite right too Rosetti All that fuss and bother, ridiculous!

Why are people saying "there must be more to this"? Disability is routinely discriminated against in everyday life.

There's more to it I'm sure. I read the article in another paper which said the woman with baby couldn't remove the baby from the pram because she had an injury to her arm- so effectively was also disabled at the time.

I may be wrong, take a look yourselves, but I watched the mobile phone videos shot by Tanyalee's husband, which are on her YouTube Channel, and I could swear that this woman is CARRYING her baby in her arms whilst the guard moves the pram for her. That's hardly someone who can't use her arm or arms......

She's not disabled. She may well have an injury to her arm, and yes, her pram is pretty bulky, but it's absolutely unacceptable that a disabled person's mobility scooter (and the disabled person) is made to leave a space designated for disabled people and their equipment for a fucking pram. Then to threaten to throw the disabled person off the train for not being quiet and meek and moving without trying to assert their rights..... god, what a world.

The train company have said they are revising their training. It is shocking how the guard acted.

What sort of world do we live in where people apparently have to be "trained" to not make announcements to tell customers that a disabled person is at fault and ruining it for everyone? Common sense, surely? That guard should've got the sack.

Awful awful awful! That poor woman. I hope the guard is sacked and suffers humiliation over this. So unnecessary to make those announcements on top of everything else.

That's shit. It does seem to be getting worse. I was at a train station recently where the lift down to the exit wasn't working and the notice said 'alert a member of staff if there is a problem'. There was no staff member in sight, no number to call. If you were using a wheelchair or similar you'd have been totally stranded.

After a while, generally, non disabled people simply stop inviting disabled friends out. Quite simply, less hassle

Fortunately I have very nice friends, who after 30 years of seeing me go gradually downhill don't look like dumping me any time soon.

New people I agree; they can't be arsed with me.

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From what I’ve read on this, the mother with the pram had a (temporary) disability due to injury and had booked ahead to get assistance and that space had been reserved for her. Because she was injured she could not hold her baby or remove her baby from the pram and had made arrangements with the train company to facilitate that.

When she arrived the scooter was in her booked space. There were other places that the scooter could have been kept allowing both the woman with the scooter and the injured mother to travel, but the woman with the scooter refused to move it which meant the injured mother would have had to get off the train and not travel at all even though it was possible for both women to travel safely if the scooter was removed.

I travel regularly with two disabled people and it is true that accessibility for disabled people is very poor on public transport.

But the biggest problem we have when travelling is frequently other disabled people who don’t make advance arrangements but turn up at the station and misappropriate the assistance we have booked even though they are frequently able to cope with less assistance than the disabled people I travel with need. A number of times we’ve been left on the platform watching our train pull away because someone with a scooter has diverted our booked help to themselves and left us in a situation where it is impossible for us to board. We usually travel from an area with a large elderly population so it does happen frequently.

Although I do agree that disability accessibility does leave a lot to be desired, I know from bitter experience that frequently other people with disabilities can behave quite badly when it comes to consideration for other people who have disabilities and are more entitled because they planned ahead and booked. I suspect that is probably the situation here too.

If you were using a wheelchair or similar you'd have been totally stranded.

But you will have learned your lesson not to go out again. So the system is working.

Sorry, but I don't belive they were "collectively horrified" at all. They were horrified by the bad publicity. If they gave a shit about people with disabilities or even people with babies (some of whom can't use a sling or fold a pram due to disabilities- shocker!)

If they gave a shit they'd make more than one space accessible. What if god forbid two people in wheelchairs wanted to get on?

So there was space to move the scooter into but not the pram? Bollocks. If that was the case, why didn't the pram go into this "space"?

After a while, generally, non disabled people simply stop inviting disabled friends out. Quite simply, less hassle

This. After attempting to go into town and shop with friends twice, but barely being able to go into any of the shops due to steps or shelving, I don't get asked any more.

Yes Leah that is probably true, and is also why the truly disabled woman could not book the disabled facility herself.

It helps to remember that 'injured' and 'disabled' are not the same thing and that the woman was not really entitled to book that space, or, in the really truly unlikely event that a proper disabled person was also on the train, she should reassessed her need and given it up!

The mother is not 'another disabled person' no matter what she herself thought about the horrendous and life limiting repercussions of a not particularly badly broken arm!

LeahJack Your post is a perfect example of the divide and conquer mentality that the government is promoting.

The scooter lady was unable to book ahead because the online service is so crap. (And why should we have to book anyway, we should be able to be spontaneous like non disabled people).

There was nowhere else for her to put her scooter. The other lady's pram could have been folded away and the baby kept in the carseat (yes I watched the video).

But most of all, why should we have to play disability top trumps? There should be provision for everyone. The guard shouldn't be picking his favourite more worthy disabled person to bestow his favour on.

Questions need to be asked why someone was allowed to book the DISABLED space for a pram for a non disabled person!

leah the space wasn't bookable. Tanylee said she tried to book it when she booked her assistance and was told she wasn't allowed as its first come, first served. Which many of these spaces are - I've travelled with someone (again not-so-GWR) in a wheelchair who booked assistance and got on to find the space already had a wheelchair in it so we got forced off as there was nowhere to sit and it was horrendous trying to rearrange help as it was a Sunday, station inaccessible and unmanned and we needed to have done so well in advance.

Assistance would have been booked for both passengers in our case and there was only one space. Not-so-GWR would have known that yet took two wheelchair bookings and forced one person off onto an inaccessible unmanned station.

Personally I've been dragged from a seat by a guard (because I "look" fine (despite the sticks and heavy duty splints) when I collapsed in a hot train they tried to make the train continue despite me being very ill - in the end they had to stop and get an ambulance announcing over the tannoy that a passenger was insisting on an ambulance so the train was cancelled - I was in no state to do any such thing.

I find travelling frightening now I'm even more disabled.

Tanylee was forced to sit on her scooter in the vestibule between carriages in everyone's way moving back and forth because there was nowhere else to go - health and safety wise that's never acceptable. Had there been a sudden stop she would have been seriously injured along with anyone else there.

Yes anyone can buy a scooter, but so can anyone buy a wheelchair.

VulvaOfSteel

come on, play the game. It's words that count. Not deeds. This is the 21st century.

I find travelling frightening now I'm even more disabled.

I know it's sledgehammer cynicism, but that's not "accident". It's the whole point.

Remember we have an elected MP who thinks disabled people are worth less than able bodied.

I was once prevented from boarding a train at Euston. The ticket collector wouldn't let us through the barrier because there was no time to put down the wheelchair ramp.

DH and I and our four kids all insisted this was absolutely fine; we hadn't deemed int necessary to book assistance; I am perfectly capable of getting on the train with some help from DP and walking to my seat while he folds the wheelchair. I can walk a bit. I use the wheel chair when I'm going to be out all day.

But no, the ticket collector was having none of it. We stood at the barrier for ten minutes while other passengers streamed past. Then we had to wait an hour for another train and of course our seats were not reserved on this one so another problem. Not a nice end to our weekend in London.

The woman is holding her baby on the video. She had booked the seat near to the space - not the space itself.

If the mother had a broken arm and couldn't hold her baby, what was going to happen if the baby needed feeding, or changing, or threw up, or was distressed?

Anyway the government really needs to make it a lot clearer that the space for wheelchairs and other disability aids is FOR wheelchairs and other disability aids. A parent using public transport should usually be able to use a cheap, light foldable style of pushchair. In my day (gimmer) that's what we all did because there were no spaces available at all to store prams in (I can't remember how or even if wheelchair users were accommodated).