Disabled seat on buses

[Spidey66]

So about 10 days ago I tripped over a step and broke my arm. I had a cast on for a week, then it was removed but I still have a sling and am in considerable pain.

I took a brief trip to the high street on the bus for cash today. On the return I got on the bus and sat on the disabled seat nearest the driver. As i was on the inside, my injured left arm was against the window so I felt safe as I feel anxious about others bumping into me, or losing my balance at an emergency stop. I feel I am entitled to use the disabled spot as I have a temporary disability, which given I have a sling is obvious.

An older woman sat next to me on the outside of the seat then a much older lady got on and there didn't appear to be a seat for her. I felt dead guilty (damn you Catholic childhood!) and ended up explaining to her why I wasn't able to stand up for her. As it was, she was fine with my explanation and the lady sat next to me offered her the seat.

So is it is OK for a middle age woman to use a disabled seat because of a broken arm? Noone on the bus made me feel bad except myself but I don't know their thoughts!

Four batshit hostile posts within the first fifteen guarantees that OP will get a hard time on here. It's the law of AIBU.

Tell you what would really make them lose their shit : I had a holiday booked years ago when kids were young and had emergency surgery a couple of months before - fine to fly but couldn't lift things and kids were too little to be useful. Rang the airline and explained and they classed me as needing for assisted travel - wheelchair, one of those little electric carts, priority boarding, the lot. It was ace!

Obviously though I am an entitled bastard who caused loads of old ladies to break their hips that day.

But, that's a transport provider rather than an angry mumsnetter, so they were probably wrong.

@Quveas
Agree with every word
I was quoted by a poster saying it was a " Temporary disability"... No such thing

BTW the cast is off, and it does make me feel more vulnerable,

I'll probably be accused of drip feeding here, but this the 2nd significant break I've had in less than 2 years. I had a bone density scan after the first, and am in the early stages of osteoporosis, which is possibly adding to my anxiety about further injury.

Those seats are also not "disabled seats" so it doesnt matter if someone has an actual disability or not and sits on them

I honestly dispair at these threads and the lack of compassion.

@Quveas my daughter is disabled. She is autistic. But that disability doesn’t mean she needs a priority seat on the bus. She will sit anywhere (unless someone has left crumbs on the seat).
When she had an operation on her neck (nothing to do with her autism) she used a wheelchair for safety and therefore required the wheelchair space on the bus (which is different to the priority seats obviously).
But by your theory she wasn’t disabled when using the wheelchair because it was temporary.
She might need another operation on some bones - will I make sure she sits in a safe place on a bus (ie the Priority seat)? Yes I will. Because that’s what it is for. She will have PRIORITY because she will have just had a major operation.

Actually having thought further, my title should have been 'priority seat' rather than 'disabled seat'. Which is why it's often used for those less able to stand but not disabled eg pregnant women, or someone carrying a small child. They're not disabled either but of course they are entitled to use the seat.

What I don’t get is in the time you spent “guiltily” explaining to the elderly woman who you would have left standing why you couldn’t have moved further back at that point?

really it should have been a non issue.

Exactly so, those seats are for anyone who needs them, including what used to be called 'elderly and infirm'. Being old isn't a disability, but older people might well need to use them. Likewise pregnant women, people recovering from surgery or injuries.

Facilities that are reserved for people with disabilities are blue badge parking for certificate holders (not their family members) and disabled people's discount travel cards.
You can take a guide dog into shops, but there's no register for them, so anyone can take in a dog and identify it as an assistance animal.
Wheelchair spaces have priority useage for people who use a wheelchair, but there is nothing to prove that you actually need a chair, or for how long.

I don’t think you are being unreasonable at all. I can’t understand all the posts saying you are.

OP is unsteady on her feet as she only has use of one arm, feeling off as she’s broken her arm. The bus drivers never stops to wait for everyone to be seated. An elderly lady has as much risk as falling as OP. Both have issues with bone density.

Have you ever tried getting down a moving bus with a broken arm in a cast? One bump and you're on the floor or bashed against a rail in agony and potentially seriously damaged.

Also, my cousin who had terminal cancer with a life expectancy of 6 months at diagnosis should just have got on with it, eh? Should really have folded his wheelchair away and walked tbh.

Haven't read all replies, first few were enough.

My experience of having a broken arm in London was; bus drivers quickly spotted me, lowered platform for ease of access etc, pulled up beside me at end of bus queue, when I mistook hospital stop, announced that they had an eye on me, they would let me know when to get off.

Add to that kind people offering assistance and advice and random news seller wishing good recovery.

However, when I returned to my own town, bus took off like a bullet...,

Cancer is a disability ,by the way .

I don't understand the anger expressed by some on this thread. Perhaps as you say OP, you used the wrong terminology for the seats and therefore led some to believe that the seats were somehow comparable to disabled car park spaces.

Priority bus seats don't have an official system that dictates who can and can't legally use them. The signs might suggest that the disabled or elderly should be prioritised but I think really it comes down to prioritising anyone who would struggle to stand or sit further back in the bus. I know plenty of disabled and elderly people that have no real need to use the priority seats on a regular basis whilst I think most people could have reason to use them at some point in their life. I would categorise OP in the latter category and therefore she used the seat legitimately.

Some of these responses are bonkers. They’re priority seats - now disability seats. You had a priority need as there was a risk to your safety travelling down the bus. Nobody was in the slightest bit bothered on the bus you were on. You were fine to sit there.

OP no idea why you started this thread, you’d decided you were entitled to use the seat before you’d even posted, ergo you had already decided that anyone who disagreed with your particular stance was wrong. So, why the post?

I'm disabled. I have to sit at the front as I walk with a frame. I'm very unsteady. I'm in pain all the time.

I'd of been pissed off at you I'm not going to lie. You are capable of walking. You could of asked the driver to not drive until you were sat down. I'd of had to get off and wait for next bus. Which happens a lot.

I think those seats are for anyone who has a need to use them e.g elderly, people recovering from surgery/ broken limbs etc, people with babies, people with health conditions. So I don't think YABU.

When I was pregnant I always sat in seats as far back as I could to give disabled and elderly the priority seats.

One time I got on the bus when I was 7 month's pregnant and a guy sat in the aisle seat of the priority row wouldn't let me get to the free window seat and I had to stand as the bus was packed with no other free seats. I cried when I got home. Think about how your actions might have made that elderly woman feel.

I expect if you had described them as priority seats in the first place you would have got less of a pasting. I'm also in a tfl area and the signs on the seat say something like "please give up this seat to someone less able to stand". There is nothing about needing to be disabled to use them. Buses will usually have wheelchair spaces in addition to these priority seats.

Walking down a moving bus using only one arm is hard. It would have made you vulnerable to falling and further injuring yourself. You were better off sitting.

👌

I'm sorry for all those who struggle with public transport and I accept that at least my struggle is merely temporary.

Again, I hope this doesn't look like drip feeding. The last time I broke my arm (right, dominant arm) it was a terrible injury and I ended up having surgery to fix it properly. I found the surgery painful +++ and I ended up on antidepressants. This time its my left arm, and so far appears less complex but still painful. I have a fracture clinic appointment on Friday. So far surgery has not been ruled out, but I found it so difficult last time, I really, really hope it doesn't need it. But that is adding to my anxiety that if it is injured further, I may need surgery on this arm and this is something I am doing all I can to avoid....including avoiding falls or injury.

I wanted to test how I manage on a short bus trip but clearly my anxieties are too high for even that at present, as clearly it is unreasonable for my to manage my anxiety by sitting in a priority seat.

Not unless you have the cancer for at least 12 months and one day.

My DS broke his leg in two places last year, had a big cast up his leg and was in a wheelchair for weeks and weeks. When we got on the bus he went in the wheelchair space because he was in a wheelchair. Not sure what else I was supposed to do really. Nobody ever objected because there was nothing to object about.

Yes ..