AIBU: to feel slightly smug/happy/justified that double buggy trumped a "mobility scooter"?

[Woollymummy]

A certain lady on our bus route has landed some of our bus drivers in trouble for having defended my right as a fare-paying passenger to keep my double buggy intact with sleeping toddler and non-walking baby inside, rather than have them turned out so she can take "her rightful place" in the wheelchair space. she has not got a wheelchair. she has a mobility/pavement transporter thing which she can get in and out of herself, and also has a huge vendetta against any pushcahir owning person who dares to get in her way. I have folded up for her before, pregant, with two kids, sleeping/awake etc, getting a thankyou while the driver gets a snappy remark or vice versa. Today I refused to fold because the bus driver told her he had a letter refuting her claim to the pushchair space. She backed down, I returned to my seat feeling smug/thankful/guilty. I want to feel happy about this outcome - is that wrong?

and op if someone eolder person got on bus in wheelchair,scooter or a older child in chair , i would do my dam best to find way to accomadte them ,guess you wont be telling your children to give up seat either

they may be motorised vechiles, but they have short battery life

dont blame her for trying to get on a bus to save energy

I really wish that all these mothers who think their children are too precious to be disturbed in their pushchairs could spend a day with a person who is disabled. And realise that not all disabilities are immediately visible.

I'll rent out my ds if you like. He is 6 and he can walk, but probably not in the right direction and he will fall over or maybe collapse in pain and need carrying back to the car. Try carrying HIM and keeping control of two toddlers. He doesn't have a wheelchair neither.

YABU. Before ds1's disabilities became a mahjor issue, I folded down pushchairs. I've managed 2 babies and 2 toddlers before on buses. Still bloody easier than managing ds1 now.

YABVVVVVVU.

I have come out of lurkerhood to tell you this.

I seriously hope that you or anyone you love never knows what it feels like to be dependent on 'disabled' facilities. It makes struggling to take a double buggy (I've done it) on and off public transport a walk in the park.

Awful OP, I am that someone would be smug or thankful that they had in effect 'trumped' a person with a disability.

I use the buses occasionally and used one yesterday with my new P&T (only had DD in it as lo isn't due till July) and I will always wait for the next buss if DD is sleeping and I cant fold the pushchair/pram down.

That is why I leave the house earlier than I have to so that I leave time for instances such as that.

I would usually walk TBH but I am having some chest/breathing problems with this pregnancy and I struggle with a lot of walking.

I only hope that the OP never has to know what it feels like to be disabled or have any kind of mobility problem.

Phoenix, I have the same problem when ds2 is in his Major. I've had several complaints made to our local bus company at the attitude of the drivers. I was once made to get off the bus 8 months pregnant and with ds2 in pram as I refused to fold it down so a double pram could get on. Sadly, its drivers disgretion whether they see the Major as a wheelchair or not. Its used for transporting a disabled child ffs!!! And yes, ds2 will be in a wheelchair eventually as its one of the only "safe" ways to transport him around. Wish I'd taken the wheelchair now when offered it.

As for the mobility scooter, if it were small enough to fit on the buw (and you do get them) then op should have moved or got off the bus. Was there another single pram on the bus as well? Were they taking up another pram spot? Having read the op though, it seems that the bus company have been told said mobility scooter user is not allowed on the bus, not the op refusing to fold pram down.

Just checked (pedant) and only certain models of mobility scooter are permitted on buses, for safety reasons.

ah right, so it may be her scooter isnt allowed on the bus.

Riven, our local transport company have banned mobility scooters from our Metro trains. Not sure of the reason, but there was an uproar about it. No legal action could be taken due to it not being against the law to ban them due to health and safety issues.

i have never thought of them as buggy spaces, always wheelchair spaces

think its more the smug attitude thats annoyed everyone and op not said what kind of moblity scooter either.

ds has just got wheelchair recently,but tend take major as to get to accesiable buses i have to fold as we stillhave old fasioned ones here a journey only posiable if got older dc to help

That would be why the driver had a letter misdee.

OP still VU to gloat.

Has OP been back yet?

My dad has Cogan's Syndrome he can't walk more than about 10 paces. He's so weak he can't use an ordinary wheelchair. We're about to get him a mobility scooter, which he will be able to get in and out of himself but if he had to get out of it on a bus, try and fold it downa nd then walk to a seat then I think he would be close to collapse.

I think you're been very unreasonable and am that you're so smug and happy about it.

op - yabu to expect to get your double pram on a bus. You need to carry the baby in a sling and the older child in a lightweight foldable pushchair.

riven do you not have online shopping there, its my life saviour

My grandmother was independantly mobile for the first time in 40 years due to her mobility scooter - she lived in a hilly town, so couldn't use a manual wheelchair on her own, and couldn't access taxis on her own as she needed manual handling to get in and out of cars (fixed hip plus multiple joint replacements and arthritis). If there had been accessible buses where she lived it would have been amazing for her - as it was she only had a limited range on the scooter, but also found it very tiring to deal with all the kerbs etc.

OP, you chose to have two tiny children and be pg, the mobility scooter owner didn't choose to have mobility issues.

YABVU

To the poster who said they sit in the front (disabled) seat so they can be next to their baby in a pram. Please, please do not do this. Not everyone who is disabled looks disabled. My DH is in his mid 30s, he does not look disabled or old and he can walk on to the bus. But he has damage to his spinal cord and spine, is in constant pain and will never recover. It is agony for him to have to stand on a moving bus. You would not know that and he could be the man you are tutting at for not getting up and offering their seat, or that you deny a seat to.

My DH does not want the humiliation of having to ask for a seat, or having someone accusing him of not being disabled. Someone even caused him a lazy arse the other day for parking in a disabled bay, even though he had a badge.

I could never have imagined how much prejudice there was against disabled people until my DH became disabled. It is in no way the same as having a toddler and a baby in a double buggy! A toddler and a baby are just more visible than most disabilities, but that doesn't make their need greater.

Just adding my own disbelief at the up-own-arsedness of the OP.