Bus driver refused to make passenger leave

[MobilityCat]

Last night on the very crowded bus I was unable to get to the wheelchair space to park, as it was full of luggage and people. The only place available was in the doorway.

A person stood next to me in the doorway and refused to move to allow people off, saying it was I that was in the way.

I asked him to move out of the doorway so other passengers could get off, but he wouldn't so I told him that he was being inconsiderate and he started shouting and swearing at me. I told him to move away and leave me alone.

He persisted so I called twice to the driver to get him off the bus, but the driver took no action to make him leave, so I was left to manage his abuse.

He then stood in front of me and threatened me, so I raised my walking stick and pointed it at him as a warning. He backed away but carried on threatening me.

I told him that I didn't want to hurt him but if he didn't leave me alone and continued threatening me I would.

He moved further away from me, but continued to swear at me, but since he was no longer a threat I just ignored him.

I was bullied as a child, but learned to stand up against bullies as they are basically cowards, but Is it asking too much to expect the driver to protect their passengers?

Not true.

It would be full if the priority wheelchair space was taken up by someone in a wheelchair.

But if the wheelchair space ant occupied then there's space.

People just don't want to move.

The same way people park in BB spaces because "they'll only be a minute" without a thought for the disabled person having a disability for life.

I've experienced people dipping their heads into their phones so they don't need to move a row on a train so my ds can get his wheelchair in the space.

I've also stood up from priority seats so a parent can sit their child in the space whilst they are in a wheelchair because I can stand whilst being near my ds.

It's called common decency. Something that's sadly lacking currently.

I will though say when ds and I have travelled the tube with his wheelchair people cannot move quick enough from the priory seats for him! He's not even in his wheelchair some of the time!

👏👏👏

My god I'm glad I don't live in London.

Also glad I don't have to use public transport, it sounds vile

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/buses-and-coaches-features-and-help-for-disabled-people/buses-and-coaches-features-and-help-for-disabled-people
You are the one with personal opinion that is incorrect
The person you replied so snottily to quoted fact

999?! Don't be so utterly ridiculous that is NOT what 999 is for!!!

If the passenger refuses without a good reason, the driver should tell them they are required to move.
As per the link

Do you even know what assault is?
It absolutely is a 999 appropriate offence

I wonder why you don't believe it. I can easily see it happening on public transport especially when the disabled person doesn't back down and accept the shit they're being dealt with, which ranges from their space being abused to being verbally abused.

@snowmichael

Op hadn't been assaulted.....she had THREATENED to do so herself tho..

There's no 'technically' about it!

Unfortunately money comes first, and bus companies make far more money out of parents with buggies using the buses all day long, than the relatively small amount of wheelchair users.

Although I'm sure if they closed the space off, they'd get more wheelchair users confident enough to travel.

But again they'll be sadly considered an inconvenience because the more wheelchair users there are, the more the buses will run late, due to having to lower/higher the ramp to let them on and off.

So not only are the passengers who won't move utterly selfish, but the bus companies too.

And if the passenger says no?

Not sure I agree. The bus drivers in my area enforce this very simply. They simply stop the bus if passengers don't make way for a wheelchair and nobody goes anywhere! Somehow that works a charm.

I'm with MoodyMargaret on this one. The driver needs reporting as he was clearly in breach of the bus company protocol in respect of wheelchair users. This isn't the first case that I have heard of and it truly sickens me the way some people treat the disabled in society. I was once a wheelchair user and was often tutted at and shoved out of they way - one woman deliberately leaned against the side of my chair in an attempt to tip me out sideways; she didn't need to get anywhere, simply felt that it was ok to bully me.

That's literally what I said and you disagreed with!

Then the driver stops the bus and no one goes anywhere. That pretty ,uch invariably gets the selfish shit to move, particularly given the whole bus will be giving him daggers by thatpoint

I am disabled, not a wheelchair user, but my disability is obvious.
Travelling home on a bus (early evening) the driver allowed a man on that was so drunk, when he dropped all his money whilst trying to pay, he fell over. He also appeared to have pissed himself.
He then proceeded to letch over a young woman, who moved several times to get away, until finally getting off.
As the bus rounded a very slight bend in the road this drunken idiot fell on me. I was completely freaked out (past trauma) and I found energy I didn't know I had and shoved him on the floor!
As I exited the bus shortly after I asked the driver why he'd let him on when he could see he was so drunk.
He shrugged his shoulders.
@MobilityCat I can only imagine how difficult travelling is for you. I'm angry on your behalf that there seems no safe way of upholding the law regarding wheelchair spaces on buses. Why have an unenforceable law 🤷🏻‍♀️
I totally understand that a driver shouldn't leave his cab, and a PP said they get agro if they run late unless it's a police matter, so the driver is not going to solve this.
If you need to rely on common decency from fellow (arseholes) humans then therein lies the problem. Unfortunately other people's selfishness is not fixable 😔

No, you said Bus drivers can't make people get out of wheelchair spaces or make people get off the bus. They're not paid enough to risk their safety for this

They can and they do. They stop the bus. And people then get ot of wheelchair spaces or get off. And if they don't, they radio to control. They don't need martial arts. They are well trained and know how to handle this situation and are paid to do so

It depends where you are. You can’t stay and hold up traffic or prevent other buses getting to the bus stop in a city.

I've been on buses where the driver says the bus is going nowhere until the disruptive passenger gets off. It's the best action they can take. I once managed to order some naughty school children off a bus using my school teacher voice. Funnily enough they obeyed. It appears there's a lot of bystander passive behaviour with other passengers not willing to intervene.

I did say that, followed in the same post by:

He should have refused to move the bus though, it doesn't sound like a safe situation for anyone.

It's always good to read the whole post before you respond to someone. It makes your posts more relevant.

Yes you can.

And lets face it, it's not something that's going to happen everyday.

There's far more chance of a bus breaking down and other bus drivers having to work around that.

I read and I disagreed. So posts that don't agree with yours must be irrelevant 😃

In an ideal world that is what they would do but the reality is that control often wouldn’t be sympathetic and would just tell them to get on with it. They are more concerned about keeping to timetables

Not in London