Wheelchair / buggy on bus

[MoonlightMistletoe]

Today I had got the bus with my sister we both have children I had my toddler who was walking and my one year old who's only just started to walk who is still in a buggy, my sister has a 12week old baby who was also in a buggy.

We had got on the bus as you do and the next stop another parent got on with their buggy, a few stops later we stop and straight away a woman is screaming/shouting at the rear doors with her phone in our faces demanding we collapse our buggies, very angry , shouting at us with buggies and also at the driver. The driver is telling us to stay put due to her being aggressive and recording us. Someone on the bus was telling us to co operate with the woman who wanted to get a person on the bus who was in a wheelchair. We know disabled people are a priority and had absolutely not said we wouldn't put the buggies down, I was taking my sleeping one year out the buggy while this woman was still swearing and being nasty and recording us, I had given my baby to my sister to sit with my toddler and herself while I was about to take her baby out the pram then all of a sudden everyone made a "ohhhhhhh" gasp and the disabled man has fallen down the side of the curb and bus sideways in his wheelchair.

She then looses her absolute shit at us for her own mistakes being so caught up in recording us to make sure we move that the man is now probably injured.

AIBU to think all she had to do was say excuse me can we move the buggies so I can get the wheelchair on?

I'm a bit confused as to how you managed to fit three buggies on the bus? I've not taken the bus in a while but the last I used one that would be a big safety hazard and a nightmare in this very situation.

Either way, you should ignore the bus driver telling you not to move and you hurry up getting your buggy down, or anyone with a buggy thats in the way gets off the bus regardless of what a third person is doing. It's common knowledge that wheelchair users have a right - rather than just a priority - to that space and you should have done more to be prepared that the space might be needed. The poor man that fell over is the only person that actually suffered in this scenario.

@PolPotNoodle:

There are two wheelchair spaces on modern buses and you can fit 1-2 buggies in each.

YANBU. The wheelchair users carer was not acting responsibly.

Sorry but i wouldn't of even put my buggies down if she was shouting and swearing at me like that. You have a right to keep your buggy up with a sleeping 12 week old just as much as they have a right! How are you expected to push the buggy aswell as carry the sleeping baby safely?!

Sorry but i wouldn't of even put my buggies down if she was shouting and swearing at me like that. You have a right to keep your buggy up with a sleeping 12 week old just as much as they have a right! How are you expected to push the buggy aswell as carry the sleeping baby safely?!

You get off the bus and walk or wait for the next one, giving way to the wheelchair user, if you really cannot. manage baby and buggy.

But this is not really a thread about buggies versus wheelchairs (thank goodness). It is about a woman losing her temper.

No scoopla if you're in the wheelchair user space wheelchair user wants to get on, you so not have equal right to that space.

So whilst the woman was rude, the space still belonged to the wheelchair user.

I imagine the driver said don't collapse it yet as he was considering not letting her on given her behaviour.

Re collapsing buggy and 12 wk old, someone will come on to tell you how in their day everyone collapsed the pushchair in the shelter with newborn triplets and 14 bags of shopping and THEY managed. In reality it means you either ask for help or get off.

YWNBU. She should have waited patiently until there was space and then got on the bus. There must have been other things going on for her to lose her shit like that.

I think the driver was telling them not too because he didn't want a potentially violent person in the bus si would have refused them access.
If any other person has immediately started screaming and swearing at other passengers then they wouldn't be allowed on the bus. The person didn't ask, or even give them a chance to do it without being asked; they just immediately started being aggressive. I wouldn't want them on the bus because then you're in a confined space with someone who will continue to bully and harass during the journey.

This isn't about buggies and wheelchairs. Its about aggressive people being told they cant get on a bus, and that's what should have happened. By all means call an ambulance for the man, but dont let his companion on the bus.

@scoopla
I really hope you have never treated a wheelchair user so appallingly as to refuse to move with a pushchair. Are also you one of those idiots, who park in a disabled space without a badge as you won’t be long? Ffs.

Moonlight
I imagine this isn’t the first time she’s come across buggies in the wheelchair space and I imagine they’ve refused to move in the past. She was very aggressive but I’d cut her some slack. It must be terribly stressful to be a carer - especially if it is a family member / partner.

It really doesnt matter how stressed she is. She has no right to hurl abuse at someone from the get go. If someone is aggressive and violent, they shouldn't be allowed on the bus. If the wheelchair user can get on and off alone then of course he gets the space, but he cannot bring his aggressive companion into a confined space with the people she was being aggressive towards.

If they had refused to move, then she can ask the driver for help and at that point maybe start filming. But she didnt; it was instant abuse. That means no admittance in my opinion.

If she was screaming from the get go I wonder whether a previous bus didn't let the wheelchair on? So you guys got the brunt of her anger?

I personally hate buggies as one woman with her blooming buggy caused me to miss a flight by seconds She honestly took 5 minutes to get on the fucking bus. There was steam leaving me.

Any buggy I had was an absolute nightmare to collapse - thankfully I wasn't reliant on public transport. But people seem to buy the equivalent of an SUV buggy these days, so even collapsed (10 minutes later) they're huge.

Refusing service to aggressive, rude and potentially violent passenger trumps the needs of a wheelchair user.

It’s likely the career is a regular user of the bus and screams every time.

How did the wheelchair user fare out incidentally? Stuck between a kerb and a bus!

the disabled man has fallen down the side of the curb and bus sideways in his wheelchair. poor man! Was he okay??

one woman with her blooming buggy caused me to miss a flight by seconds angry She honestly took 5 minutes to get on the fucking bus.
Sounds like the issue was you were cutting it too fine. That could just as easily have been a wheelchair user who needed the ramp lowering etc, or people getting on and asking about fares, asking for change etc, a slightly late bus or even just a queue of people.

YNBU she sounds vile and you can report her.
She had no right to swear or record you, or act in any way aggressive to you.
Hope you and other buggy users are OK.
Also more importantly hope the wheelchair user she should have been watching is ok.

You can fit 3 buggies on the buses around my way but it's a squeeze then the wheelchair accessible space has gone (obviously the buggies are supposed to be moved in the event of a wheelchair user requiring the bus appears but they don't always - to be fair, there is often nowhere to go if the bus is rammed, and very few storage areas for bulky items, such as folded buggies). The woman filming shouldn't have been aggressive but I wonder if this was the last straw in a long line of difficult journeys. I hope that the man was alright.

I saw wheelchair users have to wait for multiple buses in a row to pass by as no one wanted to get off then to make space. Drivers were useless and didn't want to make a good so didn't ask people to clear space for the wheelchair and so over poor women waited for more than half an hour for a less crowded bus to turn up. Maybe it was the same? Could it have happened to this woman? Still horrible to film you when you didn't even see the wheelchair user to begin with so I'm not justifying her abusing people.

"You have a right to keep your buggy up with a sleeping 12 week old just as much as they have a right!"

No she doesn't.

Where I live you aren’t allowed to take pushchairs or prams on buses without folding them first, thankfully it’s a rule most drivers stick to.

Frustration however is not an excuse for aggression.

She was unacceptable shouting and recording, I know technically you can in a public space, but if she was paying attention to the man she was caring for he wouldn't have fallen, and what was she hoping to do with the footage? Become a social media justice warrior You were happy to fold down your pram, if you weren't then the driver would have stepped in, if she isn't so aggressive from the get go in future, there'll be less stress for everyone.

That woman is probably just a horrible person who loves drama

YWNBU. She should have waited patiently until there was space and then got on the bus. There must have been other things going on for her to lose her shit like that.

Probably another three busses where mums with buggies thought they were more important than someone with a disability and knowing if they don't get on a bus soon the person they are with is about to collapse.