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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

192 replies

Woollymummy · 24/03/2009 22:59

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?

OP posts:
Phoenix4725 · 25/03/2009 08:59

hmm imof now op neeed to go wipe my sons bbackside and change his nappy since hes incapable of doing and then will haul his arse up stairs since he cant walk up them and then think will go spoil some spoilt darlings day on buses I think

drlove8 · 25/03/2009 09:17

lol @ phoenix.... some people are just ignorant twats....FFS ITS A WHEELCHAIR SPACE!. op come here>, stop being a smug self centered bitch!.....re major buggies... how could anyone not realise they are wheelchairs for little ones?, theyre huge compared to a nt buggy..... Riven, hope dd is better today!

MillyR · 25/03/2009 09:18

OP never came back, so I suspect she was a troll and the incident never happened.

StewieGriffinsMom · 25/03/2009 09:22

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poorbuthappy · 25/03/2009 09:24

An OAP on a mobility scooter is different to a 5 year old in a wheelchair.

Could it be that the woman in the mobility scooter is just plain rude and if maybe she had said thank you to the mum who had previously folder down her pushchair it would never have come to this?
I must remember that - if I am ever in a mobility scooter or a wheelchair I can be as rude as I want...

Sunflower100 · 25/03/2009 09:25

Adding another at OP - troll or no troll,

sarah293 · 25/03/2009 09:28

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poorbuthappy · 25/03/2009 09:33

Riven - as soon as I posted that I knew I hadn't said what I wanted to say - and for someone who sometimes can not keep her mouth shut it was a silly thing to say...

But I bet you would still say thank you to someone who moved out the way etc...wouldn't you!
As for the moving wheelchair incident you would have been within your rights to run them over!

poorbuthappy · 25/03/2009 09:34

By the way - how do you contemplate mushrooms?

MillyR · 25/03/2009 09:35

Because people put their pram in the wheelchair space, and then sit in the seats that are designated for disabled people. Disabled people shouldn't have to ask. If you are unable to stand on a bus then you should go to your doctor and get assessed as disabled and get a badge.

It is a classic argument used against disabled people all the time. People who are not disabled make out that they have a health problem of some kind and will ask the disabled person to justify how theirs is worse! It is not up to the disabled person to make that judgement; it is up to a doctor.

People who are disabled may already being feeling vulnerable because they may be worried about being knocked or bumped into. So the more timid ones don't ask, because they don't want to risk an aggressive (and potentially violent) response (they can't tell you're the nice person just by looking at you), so they don't get on the bus at all because why take the risk?

mamadiva · 25/03/2009 09:39

If no one else is using the wheelchair space then fair enough but if someone needs it then common sense and manners say you should move to accomodate (sp?) them.

In saying that I don't think that big prams or mobility scooters should be allowed on buses the only large thing that should be allowed on is wheelchairs anything else should be restricted to umbrella folds as far as I am concerned.

OP YABVU to feel smug about it because at the end of the day you should have been prepared to fold it down just incase.

herbietea · 25/03/2009 09:49

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reach4sky · 25/03/2009 09:52

God this attitude that some women have as regards prams is a joke. My second child didn't walk until he was 3 so I had a non-walking 3 year old, a baby and a 4 year old. I would have rather got off a bus than inconvienced a disabled person.

OrmIrian · 25/03/2009 09:53

So what is she supposed to do then when she gets on the bus with her scooter and your buggy is in the place where her scooter is supposed to go?

wastingmyeducation · 25/03/2009 09:57

If the driver had a letter, then the scooter shouldn't be on the bus. A too big scooter would pose a serious hazard to all bus users including the scooter driver.
I think the OP was feeling smug at being in the right against a rude person. Foolish to post about it, and cruel as she may have been taking shit for years as others have said, but this is not the same as refusing to move for a wheelchair.

Reallytired · 25/03/2009 09:57

I think the OP has to be remember that one day she may have disablity issues.

At the moment I cannot walk more than a very short distance due to SPD. I am virtually housebound and in considerable pain. I hopefully I will be getting crutches tomorrow. However I am lucky in that I know that in 5 to 7 weeks I will be able to walk again. It has been an eye opener to see what life is like for someone with mobility issues, who unlike me do not have a temporary condition.

A double buggy is really nothing to complain about. Many people in the world do not use buggies at all and have to walk far greater distances.

Anyone who even thinks the problems of having a double buggy comes close to limited mobility has clearly given birth to their brain as well as the placenta and baby.

elvislives · 25/03/2009 09:57

We seem to have a lot of these sorts of threads. Here in Kent the buses are actually called "buggy buses" (painted on the side) and have a space on either side with fold down seats (the sort that flip up when you stand up), so have room for a wheelchair one side and two buggies the other.

Do buses in other places only have one wheelchair space? Is that what the problem is? Clearly wheelchair takes priority over buggy, and I can't see why anyone would believe differently. Just seems to be the general me-me-me ness of modern life

Having said that it did used to make me cross when I would get the P&R bus and the old people would plant themselves in the flip down seats and refuse to move for pushchairs. The first row of "proper" seats and nearest to the door were the designated old person/ disabled/ pregnant seats and were always empty.

MillyR · 25/03/2009 10:17

Elvis

I think it depends on the type of bus. We live in a rural areas so most of our buses are small 'hopper' buses, about half the length of a normal bus. They only have room for 1 wheelchair.

It is great that some areas have buggy buses, but they wouldn't be practical (and presumably would be uneconomical in areas with smaller populations) here because of the narrow lanes.

Fortunately I have never seen a dispute about a wheelchair on our buses. The parents seem happy to fold down the pushchairs if someone in a wheelchair is waiting at the stop.

Sassybeast · 25/03/2009 10:17

Congratulations to the OP. I hope you raced the silly old bat to the disabled toilets as well - yunno how us mothers with prams have a god given right to use them as well ?

(For the avoidance of doubt I am being sarcastic}

trixymalixy · 25/03/2009 10:31

Let me get this right, you are feeling smug because a person with limited mobility was made to get off the bus rather than inconvenience you.

Shame on you OP.

She does sound like a horror and very rude, but you are far far worse IMO.

mshadowsnumber1fan · 25/03/2009 10:33

By TheDevilWearsPrimark on Tue 24-Mar-09 23:37:28
I always think having a pram counts you as disabled. More so than an old dear with her bus pass. (disclaimer, obviously I would go to lengths to accommodate an actually disabled person on the bus/tube/train)

please tell me you didn't mean this

mshadowsnumber1fan · 25/03/2009 10:35

what a hideous op

Nabster · 25/03/2009 10:42

She has other posts so not a one off name changer. Not been back I see. Must be off thinking how happy she is.

jeee · 25/03/2009 10:47

Haven't read the thread, because I know it will get really nasty.... BUT, the spaces in the bus are for wheelchairs first, and buggies second. If a buggy gets there first it hasn't won some kind of race that gives it priority, it must still be taken down to make room for the wheelchair. Incidentally, last time I was on the bus, for the very first time a little old lady in a wheelchair got on, and, whilst I was folding my buggy she was trying (unsucessfully) to get out of her chair so that I didn't have to move. Obviously I didn't let her.

sarah293 · 25/03/2009 10:53

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