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

Well done for standing up for your rights! Report it, it clearly needs addressing as the drivers won’t get involved. You shouldn’t be treated this way by these entitled little cunts.

But maybe having to have a row about whether or not she is permitted to use the space to which she has a legal entitlement is the absolute topper on a dreadful day and is therefore relevant context?

I wasn’t suggesting the woman was at all in the right.

I’m just saying OP doesn’t need to have a shit day to be entitled to the space. She could be going to a birthday party and it’s still a wheelchair space.

Yes I get what you were saying. It doesn't matter why OP needed the space, might have just fancied going on the bus for a jolly? It's a wheelchair space, not a "wheelchair space but only if you're going somewhere "important" space"

Wheelchair users definitely takes priority, you did the right thing to get the driver to move them. That driver should have taken better control of the situation. I have disabled son who’s currently uses a normal buggy and we travel a couple of times per year on train. We always sit in the wheelchair part as he becomes overwhelmed when we travel. We try and avoid taking him out the buggy. We have always moved if we have needed too.

A silent 11%, who have voted but not commented. I’m thinking perhaps those are the ones, who don’t want to fold?

It seems we all know the riles , but not all are willing to follow them. It's much the same for Blue Badge parking and the shameful thing is a lot of BB's are either fraudulent or abused. I'll only be 5 minutes,
Who are you the parking police?
I have a disability. (But you don't have a badge)

I'm guessing it was the shit day that made her stand her ground. On an average day, her and others like her sadly probably wouldn't fight back. That's generally how entitled bullies get their way

In that situation of course YANBU. That said I find it really sad that people with different reasons to need accessible spaces end up pitched against each other. Surely the answer is more space to accommodate both?

I cannot believe there are people like this, absolutely despicable

The answer is for parents and those who have a child in a pushchair to campaign for spaces for them, not to take wheelchair spaces.

I feel like I've read this exact thread at least twice before.

It's sad it's still happening.

I will say that it really depends on the pram. Some prams are not very easy to fold on a whim. It also depends on the age of the child in the pram. Newborns are easier to handle than a two year old, but newborn prams tend to be harder to fold up. It can also be quite dangerous having a newly walking baby running loose on a bus with the doors constantly opening and shutting.
I can see both sides, it doesn't necessarily make the mother's selfish.

I tend to walk to most places because I live centrally. Others may have no choice but to use the bus.

I have seen pensioners on the bus with shopping trolleys refusing to move. The driver sorted them out quickly though. I am glad that you stood up for yourself.

@Betterbear but the point is it is not a buggy space. It is a wheelchair space. If you are going to be using public transport regularly you make sure to buy a small umbrella fold pushchair. It's not going to harm a newborn to be in it for short periods. My DD slept in one overnight for a week when she was 3 months old out of various necessities. There is no "it depends".

I was once on a bus where at a stop the driver refused to resume the journey until a passenger with a child in a buggy either got off (with an onward journey ticket issued) or folded the pushchair to accommodate a passenger using a wheelchair. Pushchair toting passenger was all manner of abusive to anybody and everybody. Wheelchair using passenger was mortified. Driver was insistent. Eventually, driver won out, and the wheelchair space was used for its legally protected purpose.

I made a point of contacting the bus company that day, and commending the driver, as it’s possibly the only time I have ever seen a disabled passenger so thoroughly and comprehensively supported by a bus driver.

Mmm I certainly would not put any baby under 18 months in a pushchair. Mothers should not feel the need to risk their babies health for the sake of others.

I’m so sorry you were subjected to this awful treatment by these selfish people.

No one should feel the need to risk a baby’s health, @Betterbear, and it is for each parent to judge that risk. But the law is then clear that you must be prepared to vacate the space for a wheelchair user. It doesn’t depend on anything.

There is only one side. It's a wheelchair space, not a pram space

I will say that it really depends on the pram. Some prams are not very easy to fold on a whim.

This really is the problem of the person with the pram, not the problem of the person in the wheelchair. If the pram cannot be folded then the pram owner needs to get off the bus.

It's a wheelchair space end of. My granddaughter uses one and I would stand my ground to get it if I went on a bus with her.

🙄

You don't need to risk your babies health, if you're not disabled you have legs and can walk whilst your baby is in the appropriate buggy or wait for the next one if it's too far.

God how utterly embarrassing for them.

I hope other passengers intervened and recorded?