To think that if you are high risk you should prob not be on the bus?

[malificent7]

Prepared to get lynched here but i get the bus to hospital placement every day. There is a young man on bus who normally wears a mask. Today he wasn't. He forgot.
A woman on the bus kicked off at him massively as she has cancer. Yes i do sympathise with her but if I had cancer I wouldnt be travelling by bus. Id go to chemo by taxi. The risk is just too great atm.
He should have worn a mask but she should be protecting herself. My mum died of cancer so I know how hard it us.

The hospital will arrange transport for patients undergoing treatment such as chemo.

Sadly this is not the case in my area. Hospital transport is organised by the GP rather than the hospital, and patients need meet certain criteria (basically not be able to walk unaided) to qualify for funded patient transport. I'm a nurse and was shocked when a patient told me they'd spent over £200 in one week on taxis to the hospital for different appointments, so I looked into arranging hospital transport for her, but she wasn't eligible for it.

You can claim your money back for some travel to the hospital if you are on certain benefits, but you are expected to use the cheapest option, so public transport.

maybe just maybe she got off at the shopping centre because the shopping centre contains a Boots or a pharmacy where she needed to collect her vital and life saving prescription for ........ errrm........CANCER

and no she does not have any relatives or friends (either on that occasion or at all) to ask or who have offered to collect her prescription for her.

i can tell you this much - every time i went on the bus to my chemo appointment i was TERRIFIED of catching Covid19 either on the bus or indeed at the hospital i was going to but what choice might you have but to decide that the cancer treatment has to be had.

After all there was a lot in the press at the time (early in lock down - March, April May) about people actually NOT getting cancer treatments because of Covid19. So what would you do? Think - well i cannot afford taxis but i can afford the bus but it is irresponsible of me to just TRY to get my cancer treatment so I will just lock myself at home and refuse the cancer treatment.

I'd better sign off now because my own recollection of that emotional rollercoaster is making me feel indignant about your original post.

Just to clarify- some hospitals offer transport for some people which is fantastic, however there are reasons why people don't always end up with hospital transport- one is a shortage of hospital volunteers to do local journeys. Another is you have to opt completely in or completely out and so if you have a family member take you most of the time which people often like for support, you can't then use it for the remaining slots.

It's more complicated than just the hospital provides transport for everyone.

I agree with the majority of these posts but I also find the blind bashing of this man a bit ridiculous, also.

He said he forgot, but what if that wasn't the full story? What if he is going through something else at home that is on his mind? Maybe he has just lost someone or similar. He didn't need to disclose private information to a stranger on the bus. Or, is it because he's a man we just assume he's a pig who couldn't be arsed that day?

Secondly, no matter what illness you have, you cannot go off at people for not wearing a mask. She had absolutely no idea why he wasn't wearing one, and although OP stated he usually wears one, she wasn't aware of that. One illness doesn't trump another and she should have kept to herself or got on another bus.

The only entirely safe way to travel is via your own car. If that isn't possible, then unfortunately public transport comes with it's own risk. There will always be people who don't want to wear a mask (whether you agree with it or not). Similarly, there will always be people who cannot wear a mask due to medical reasons and they should not have to justify this to a random person.

We can only control what we ourselves do. It's an awful situation for the woman. I can't imagine the anxiety she feels when going out. But, unfortunately, there will always be risk, and going off at someone is unacceptable.

He forget?

So if he forgot his bus fare/payment card what would his options be? Miss bus and go home and get it?

The same applies to mask wearing, I forgot doesn't cut it at all.

Also, has all PPs have pointed out, taxis are not a viable option cost wize for many.

He said he forgot, but what if that wasn't the full story? What if he is going through something else at home that is on his mind? Maybe he has just lost someone or similar

I take it you apply the same logic to fare dodgers? Under absolutely no obligation to disclose why they are trying to travel without paying, the driver should just accept that something may be worrying them. The driver shouldn't be making sexist assumptions about why they try to get on a bus without their fare.

Just thought! The young man could pay for a taxi because HE forgot HIS mask.

( Taxi drivers often carry spare ones )

A taxi for himself that is.

Jesus there are some really nasty vitriolic comments on here to the op. Everyone needs to check themselves and stop polishing their halos. She is just questioning something she has seen and wonder if there is an alternative. She hasn’t accosted the last and told her not to come on the bus.

@corythatwas

He said he forgot, but what if that wasn't the full story? What if he is going through something else at home that is on his mind? Maybe he has just lost someone or similar

I take it you apply the same logic to fare dodgers? Under absolutely no obligation to disclose why they are trying to travel without paying, the driver should just accept that something may be worrying them. The driver shouldn't be making sexist assumptions about why they try to get on a bus without their fare.

They're two entirely different situations and you know that, so quit with the faux naiveity. Masks have only recently came in and therefore take time for people to adjust to remembering to wear/bring one. The fact someone forgot one time isn't a shock. Buses have also cost money for someone's lifetime so is a habit set in stone. The man may also wear one usually but perhaps a condition he has has flared up so decided to go without today. No one should be accosted on a bus and have to justify themselves. It's shameful behaviour.

Mask shaming really gets on my nerves. Fed up of people trying to bully others into disclosing medical information to prove themselves. The virus is here to stay and considering a few months ago we were all tottering around with no masks on at all, I think exploding at someone over it is a bit redundant.

I wear a mask and have no issues doing so, but it is not my place to police those who aren't. It wasn't her place, either.

The fact someone forgot one time isn't a shock.

Not a shock, but I don't see that it's any different from the seatbelt requirement, the MOT requirement, the driving test requirement or the law against drink-driving. FIL was old enough for all of these to come as a sudden shock- and from what I can gather he didn't approve of any of them. That didn't mean he could carry on downing half a bottle of whisky, then getting into his old wreck of a car, with no proof of his (limited) driving abilities, and drive off without putting on his seatbelt. If he hadn't remember to sort himself out in accordance with the new regulations, he couldn't drive, simple as.

I have a shrewd suspicion the reason my house is standing (within a stone's throw of the docks) is that the people who would have been my neighbours during the war weren't let off the hook when it came to the blackout simply because they had things on their minds. No doubt they had things on their minds. But they still had to go round and check those windows every night before they could put the lights on.

@malificent7

I have come round and agree that the young man should not have got on the bus. She did get off at the shopping centre not the hospital.

Ffs. Why is where she got off relevant?

It must be terrifying having cancer at the best of times, let alone at the moment. I agree with the majority that YABU to say she shouldn’t be on the bus, I’m sure she wouldn’t be if she didn’t have to be.

That said it is the case that people will be on buses without masks - children or otherwise exempt - and the woman can’t expect to only be surrounded by mask wearers, but in this case it was just forgetting and in doing so he has increased her risk.

I'm sick of mask shaming too. I'm sick of people going out of their way to belittle people who are wearing a mask and excusing the non compliant, selfish and forgetful, making things more difficult for the exempt.

If anyone shouldn't have got on the bus it was the man in question, who wasn't exempt. Surely by now you'd check your mask as you'd check keys, wallet, phone, cards etc.

@AlrightTreacle. My mum's transport was arranged by her hospital not the GP. I was also able to take her sometimes but when Covid hit I was barred from accompanying her and as she is so frail and cannot drive the 20 mile return trip she was picked up and returned by patient transport...if that hadn't happened then she could not have received her treatment. Just telling you how it was for us in our area

@Porcupineinwaiting

But for the sake if my health I would pay

Even if it meant you couldn't pay the rent? Or put the heating on?

I mean, I'd pay too - because I'd be in the privileged position of being able to afford it. But that's what it is - privilege - which means it's not an option for everyone.

Exactly. I've been in a place where money has been excruciatingly tight. It might well depend on the area/hospital as to whether funding is available for transport. Also, when I had very little money and needed bus fare to attend appointments at the hospital, I was unaware until informed that I could claim it back if on certain benefits. I just didn't know. Also, shame was a factor in claiming.

Vulnerable people should wear n95 respirator masks to protect themselves. They shouldn't wear surgical mask that are meant to protect the others from them.

@juliastone and who is paying for and fitting these masks? Because cancer is already devastating for people without adding extra costs in

I agree with OP. But the man should of had a mask. I just think everyone should be kind to each other no need to argue. People these days just want to pick arguments.

Both of them are in the wrong, he should wear a mask and if she's that vulnerable public transport isn't a good idea, there's plenty of bugs other than covid! If you take public transport you need to assume that some people may be unwell in fact. Hospital transport is available for chemo I thought, my nanna was certainly picked up each time a while ago.

If you do need to use public transport and are at enhanced vulnerability you should wear a proper respirator with filter certified to block viruses

@Jeaniealogy

The hospital will arrange transport for patients undergoing treatment such as chemo. My very vulnerable lung cancer patient mum is on palliative care and until recently taken to chemo appointments by patient transport. Hospital transport used to reclaimable under Tax Credits but not sure of the position now.

That's not the same everywhere. Here there is a volunteer patient driver service for the cancer hospital, but the majority of drivers are retired people so their numbers are massively cut atm.

Hospital transport can sometimes be arranged, but it involves sharing a minibus with multiple other people (up to 9) and also stops at the main hospital doors so patients who can't walk to the cancer hospital next door can't use it.

The financial cost of having cancer is well documented. To casually say "I would get a taxi" shows a fortunate cluelessness about how financially devastating it can be.

YOU ARE BEING SO VERY VERY VERY UNREASONABLE OP.

@Jeaniealogy but your post wasn't 'telling it how it was for our area' - you confidently stated the hospital would provide transport - your complete first sentence says that. There was no qualification - you didn't write "in my area the hospital will provide transport.

As soon as he realized he forgot his mask, he should have turned around and gone home to get it. It’s not ok to step foot on the bus without one just because he forgot.

I’ve had to do it because I forgot. It’s my job to have a mask and if I am late because I messed up and has to backtrack to get one, that is my problem, no one else’s.