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?

who the hell was referring to people as wheelchairs? I was referring to wheelchairs as wheelchairs, because thats what they are. They are a thing. are you hard of reading as well?

His exact words were "I'm going to f... ing kill you!"

No, but if you re-read your earlier post and still can't understand how it comes across, then perhaps you are?

However, I was giving the benefit of doubt as you might have realised how it came across.

No biggie, or reason to get rude.

Or wheelchair user.

@MobilityCat
Thank you for educating me........I mean that sincerely!

Presuming you tapped in with an Oyster card or bank card: If you have an online TfL account you should be able to see your journey history and the time you tapped in.

If you haven't got an account already, you should have one for delay repay purposes. Mind you, TfL got hacked at the start of September and lots of systems have been offline, so it may not work at the moment.

I'd recommend reporting it to British Transport Police asap, as in my experience TfL only keep CCTV for a week, and BTP are very slow to follow up. The bus stop is usually also covered by CCTV.

The courts have found otherwise. Bus companies can't just provide a space and then leave passengers to fight it out between themselves. They have to make a least some effort to help wheelchair users.

No court has ever found that bus drivers need to sort out fights amongst passengers, and never will.

And I didn't say they had. They found however that drivers couldn't just ignore it and must make at least reasonable efforts to protect the interests of disabled passengers. See Paulley v First Group plc.

You were. More than once. Wheelchairs have people in them. They don't just miraculously appear on buses. Basic courtesy.

It's so gross when I'm somewhere like a restaurant and staff will say to my DH, "The wheelchair can go there". I'm a fucking human, not a wheelchair. I'm a wheelchair USER, not a wheelchair. Describing an actual person as an object is just vile.

Oh, and my best mate is a London bus driver. If a wheelchair user gets on his bus and there are people, luggage, pushchairs or anything else in the wheelchair space, he will turn off the engine if they refuse to move, and won't set off until they do. Inevitably, the other passengers get annoyed at the person who won't move, and they end up moving. Simple really.

Is the bus safe if there is a wheelchair user who isn't parked correctly? I thought that drivers weren't supposed to move off until the back of the wheelchair was against the rest.

Quite a lot of unhinged, aggressive people drive cars too. Pretty worrying given that a car is essentially a lethal weapon:
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/18/paris-suv-driver-charged-with-after-cyclist-run-over

Oh give over.

@JubileeJuice maybe they aren't referring to you, but the actual wheelchairs? Maybe they are assuming you'll move ie be moved to a dining chair?!

maybe give them the benefit of the doubt until the absolutely make it clear, then whether floor with them!!

This!

I've been thrown around in my wheelchair twice while navigating through passengers to the back rest. Reported the driver both times.

Presumably this one is worth a report on the same basis then.

Thank you, yes I have now given the bus number and approximate time to Tfl.

As a carer to a powerchair-using Husband, I can tell you that some kind of incident where folk are downright thoughtless happens EVERY single time we go out - and we go out a lot. This is our life unfortunately, so it really isn't unusual at all.

Don't buses have Cctv these days, we had an incident in our tram, I gave a statement and they corroborated with tram cctv. Prosecuted and sentenced.

This is awful and I'm so sorry. My partner was a London bus driver for many years and they are told not to put themselves in danger from possibly abusive passengers ( some are terrifying and not all drivers are big burly people) they should call for back up including police. There is cctv.
I do remember my partner used to refuse to start the bus if a passenger was being difficult and the rest of the passengers comments were usually enough to get them to leave.

Up my way a child of 15 was sentenced to four years having head butted and punched a driver who refused to let him on as too drunk. He had to an underlying heart condition and he died, 56 years old. It’s stuff like this which keeps drivers in their cabs.

"stuff like this" - you mean applying the law, which IS part of their job?! The OP's issue is ABSOLUTELY with the individual bus driver and, if applicable, the bus company who possibly failed to provide him with adequate training.

There is ONE safe space on a bus for wheelchair users. Whilst others may use it if there is no wheelchair user on board, they must vacate it (and move their prams, luggage, dogs etc) out of the way as soon as a wheelchair user wishes to board. It is the driver's job to tell them to do so.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/buses-and-coaches-features-and-help-for-disabled-people/buses-and-coaches-features-and-help-for-disabled-people#using-a-wheelchair