Wheelchair vs buggies. Showdown on the bus

[SweetiePi3]

Today wasn't a good day for me. I had to go to the Princess Royal hospital. I waited for the bus, but when it arrived, the ramp wasn't deploying properly.
After the 3rd attempt, I lined up my chair, and as it came out, hanging an inch or so from the ground, I stormed up the ramp and into the bus.
Coming back, I had to change buses. The bus was full with three buggies in the wheelchair space.
The driver opened the back door and told me he had asked them to make space, but they refused.
I put my good foot in the doorway, preventing him from closing it and driving off.
He told them that I was holding the bus hostage until they made space. One mum folded her buggy, and one moved out of the way.
The third still refused, and while I was trying to explain the law to her, over her shouting, her partner started yelling at me.
I asked them what the sign said, but they said they were there first. I told them that the bus went move until I'm on it.
Meanwhile, people were leaving the bus. They gave in and took their buggy off while I boarded the ramp, then came in after me.
The bus driver drove off with the four of us lined up, one folded buggy, the other two, and me

@Sissynova umbrella fold buggies from birth are available.

Those are not ideal positions for babies under 6 months. ‘Lie flat’ reclines are usually only something like 150 degrees rather than actually 180 and it’s recommended they have a firm flat mattress for their back. Particularly if you are going to have times when the baby is in the pram for long periods of time.

Again, not that it matters in terms of a wheel chair user on the bus but there is a reason the vast majority of people do not go for umberella buggies for newborns.

@pecantoucan Bus drivers are met with verbal and physical abuse and not much happens to the perpetrators. 😔

I rarely get the bus but occasionally go with my son in his buggy into town. Signs everywhere that wheelchair users take priority as buggys and prams can be folded. Shame on anyone who doesn't instantly offer to do this and make space.

Well done OP. I can’t actually believe anyone would be so entitled to think keeping their buggy up trumps a wheelchair user. We get the bus regularly with the buggy and the signs couldn’t be clearer - it’s just sad it requires signs for people to be decent in the first place!

He could have done exactly what he ended up doing under compulsion. Stopped the bus and told the antisocial buggers nothing goes until the wheelchair is securely on board.

Yanbu OP. When my children were in babies/toddlers I was always very considerate of people in wheelchairs. I either folded the pram down, got off and walked the rest of the way (if short journey) or used the space at the other side of the bus.

I do wish though that people sat on the bus would have more patience for mums with prams when they have to manoeuvre their pram/ fold it down/ juggle baby/ shopping etc.. There’s no need for the tutting and gawping.

Back to you OP, the mum who refused to move had her partner with her. It would have been easy for them to just work as a team and make space for you. I don’t think you were unreasonable to stick up for yourself as that place on the bus is rightfully yours.

My DS was in a wheelchair last year when he broke his leg. I did worry that we would be told to get off the bus if a wheelchair user wanted to get on. But my son literally couldn’t walk as he had a massive cast up his very broken leg. So I think that’s very different to a pram and in that case I would have had to politely refuse to move.

Good for you for standing your ground. Unfortunately I think refusing to allow the bus to move is the only way to get some entitled idiots to comply

I think buses are designed by men who have never had to fold a buggy with a baby and grocery shopping loaded onto it. I would have moved for you OP, but I would have cursed all bus designers.

@Sissynova You are part of the problem facing people with disabilities. 'The background of your day doesn't really matter...' You might as well say 'Where could you be going/doing that is as important as an able bodied person?'

No, I don’t remotely see how I’m ‘part of the problem’. The point is awful OPs day was so not relevant. The pram user could have had a similar day, it’s also not relevant.

I regularly have to use the bus with a pram to take my child in and out of hospital for treatment. It’s stressful, it’s draining, it’s emotional. People seem to assume someone out with a pram can only ever be pottering around/ doing shopping and that’s just not the case.

OP is entitled to the space because she is a wheelchair user, not because of how crap her day was.

@Sissynova Of course you don't see how you are part of the problem, people never do.

Op, I'm sorry this happened to you, and I'm sorry nobody else intervened.

It is ridiculous that two adults with a pushchair behaved like that.

So many of us manage with multiple issues, and children, and alone and still manage to show respect and support.

Sadly, some people are entitled assholes, and you did well standing up to that.

No we don't. Buggies have to move for wheelchair users. The only instance where the OP would have had to wait is if the space was already being used by other wheelchair users.

I regularly have to use the bus with a pram to take my child in and out of hospital for treatment. It’s stressful, it’s draining, it’s emotional. People seem to assume someone out with a pram can only ever be pottering around/ doing shopping and that’s just not the case.

Could you get a disability buggy for the trips to hospital if your child had a medical condition and in and out of hospital? Disability buggy users are no less allowed in that space than a wheelchair user is, so it might just prevent you being faced with this situation when you’re travelling to and from appointments.

*has, not had

Buses are designed to provide wheelchair spaces because wheelchair users have campaigned for years for access.

there is nothing stopping parents from campaigning but they don’t. They just take for granted the work of disability rights groups until the point it inconvenience them!

Good for you. Wheelchairs are entitled to the space first. Very rude of the parent to refuse!

No, it’s just a pram, she’s not disabled just an ill baby.

I’m not saying it makes me entitled to the space on the bus!
I’m just making the point that you don’t know what anyone else is going through and OP deserves the space because it’s designed to be a safe spot for wheelchair users on the bus, not because she had a bad day as we just can’t know about other people’s day either.

If the bus is full (of certain spaces, be that seats or otherwise) then it is full. We all have to wait at busy times

The bus would only be full to a wheelchair user if the designated space was already being used by other wheelchairs. It is their space and they have priority. Prams may use it as a courtesy if it's not needed.

YANBU. The rules are clear, it's your priority.

It is a shame that we live in a society where either wheelchair users or people using buggies can travel though.

There should be a designated space for both.

OP, I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope you will be complaining, perhaps with assistance from CAB or a rights group, and I hope you will be requesting access to the CCTV footage. It always helps to know what outcome you want. In your shoes I would want this driver to undergo further training. Your views may differ. Very best wishes

I know I understand what you’re saying. I think you made a really important point that mums with prams are just seen to be pottering about and shopping. Couldn’t possibly be having a hard time that day etc.. Some are going back and forth to the hospital like you.

I was just making a suggestion in case it helps at all. I hope your baby gets well soon 💐.

Also I wasn’t saying your baby is disabled. I’m sorry if it came across that way.

No I didn’t mean that in a defensive way or anything! Just that it a standard pram and it’s not appropriate to claim otherwise! Just that the treatment she regularly had wasn’t really relevant to a wheelchair status buggy.