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?

Kimi no one would push a wheelchair unless they had too,so i am sure the man had a disability

Just searched about prams and disabled toilets - ladies I definitely apologise for bringing it up, it was not intentional I promise!!!!!

the bus lowers down to the kerb side so you step off level no "stpeping" involved. It just seemed a strange way to do it, It is a lot easier to life am empty chair the one with a person in it.

I have to say I think mobility scooters bring out the worst in people who have them, there is a young chap lives near me who thinks he is the next Lewis Hamilton and is forever running in to people and parked cars and an elderly woman who come up behind you and shouts get out of the way even though she has room to go round you, she also runs in to the back of your feet. She almost had DS1 over on the way to school a few years back by going in to him as he was "in her way" she seems to aim at the school kids.... I told her if she ran in to my child again she would need more than a scooter to get her moving....
There is one young chap who is lovely though I think he has CP and he is always about on his scooter and I often see him going alone with verious old folk along side and their shopping on his scooted, he always says hello so not every scooter driver is a pain in the arse....saying that I would not get me mum one

I am a bit confused because I cannot imagine how you would get a mobility scooter on a bus. They are huge and v. heavy arnt they?

How would you manouvere it into and around to where the space is?

I dont know much about them, DH refuses to contemplate one yet. But would it not be easier for this lady to drive home rather than get on the bus anyway?

But I live in London and here she would not be far from where she lived IYSWIM.

I really dont get the comments about having kids and therefore being more entitled to the disabled/buggy space. Come off it!

When my big kids where babies you had no choice but to fold your buggy. You couldnt push a buggy onto a bus. I walked everywhere, it was easier. Its great that you can get a buggy on now but there is always a chance you wont get the spot because of all the other buggies, never mind some selfish wheelchair user wanting to blag it

AND - lots of people who use a wheelchair are able to get in and out and walk a bit. That doesnt mean they are not disabled. My OH doesnt use a chair at all, looks like a big strapping, strong bloke, actually has MS and cant walk more than a few steps.

I remember my DDDDD refusing to get out of her chair when we were out shopping. I wanted to get into Baby Gap but there was a big step thingy. I wanted her to get out so I could get the chair in. She wasnt having any of it. She thought people would think she was faking if they saw her walk . She was obviously right.

2shoes I am not disputing he had a problem but he walked more to get back in to the chair then he would have had to get off the bus, just seemed an odd way to do it thats all.

FFS I am not judging anyone I just think it was a stupid way to do it, the man walked a greater amount of steps to go from his seat to the chair then he would have done if he had gone from seat to pavement. As the ramp was not working it would have been a lot lighter for the person pushing the chair that is my point.

BTW I wrote my post before i read Kimi's. My comments were in answer to PP.

I do have to say the bus rampsare a pain in the arse.

life with a wheelchair is odd though

I know that 2shoes my mum is a wheelchair user

of course

That is why I thought it so odd that the woman was struggling to get the chair on and off with the bloke in when he could walk far enough to get on and off.

I know how hard it is to get a chair on and off a rampless bus.

A lot of the bus ramps here do not work well, if the bus can level with the kerb it is not too bad but otherwise it is a pain in the arse.

I have never taken dd on a bus and never will, thoe thought of fighting for the one and only wheelchair space with pfb mums feels me with dread. so I will continue to add to the global warming.

LOL I have to admit it is a whole new way of life, people talk over my mum to me, um hello she has a leg missing she can talk.

Doors are difficult, lots of shops have steps, toilets are a nightmare, busses are not good but so far everyone has moved out of the wheelchair space for us but the ramps are not always helpful

oh we have a massive big WAV
so dd always has a space
and she is safe

I really need to get a car, mum is now over 65 so no mobility car, I must be brave and take my test

If the bus is like London ones, there is a 'wheelchair space'. However mobility scooters are not allowed on them because they are generally too big and unmanouverable, too heavy for the ramps which break loads as it is, and are supposed to be suited for longer distances than a wheelchair anyway.

This doesn't stop the odd person trying it and abusing bus drivers / charging in the exit door and refusing to get off, and sometimes the bus drivers give in and let the scooter rider stay on the bus. If and only if this is the case, the OP is quite reasonable.

My personal opinion is that this is a troll thread. My daughter uses an Electric w/chair and my mum used a scooter, to get a large scooter on the bus would require a large area for a turning space which would be almost impossible given the amount of room on the bus [even if it was empty]. It is true that SOME people who use scooters etc are grumpy but as a carer I know that this could be for a number of reasons A]They could be in pain. B] It could be their medication that makes them act out of character. C] They may have had no sleep for so many nights...etc..etc or they could have had years of little respect/understanding/acceptance of their disabilities whinin the community, so really who can blame them having 'bad days?'. To generalise that ALL scooter users etc have an axe to grind is almost as bad as saying ALL mums with buggies/prams who use public transport are judgemental, inconsiderate, evil, smug, cows without an ounce of compassion for a person with limited mobility. YABVVU and for the record I walked miles when pushing my two kids in their prams/buggys/w/chairs before i learnt to drive AND I'd had 2 c-sections sooo it can be done.

Hi, this is my 1st post on MN. Where i live, most of the buses have a wheelchair space, and a buggy space. I have never actually seen a wheelchair on the bus though! However, the other day I got the bus with my DS2, and used his small umbrella fold stroller (not massive Silver Cross). This particular bus, which is the busiest bus route here, only has 1 space, labelled as being for wheelchairs OR buggies, don't think it states that one has priority over the other. I folded the stroller, and then found that the luggage rack thing isn't actually big enough for a folded stroller, and the bus driver couldn't be bothered to let me walk to a seat, prop the stroller up between my legs, and get LO sat down. I ended up filling up part of the buggy/wheelchair space anyway just so that I could sit LO down before he fell over.
While I agree that OP was VU to feel smug, sometimes the buses are impossible and you just can't win! (Also i personally find bus fares so rediculously high, plus you have to have correct change here) that I wouldn't want to get off the bus and wait for the next one. That said I have only taken a buggy on a bus maybe 25 times since I had DS1 4 1/2 years ago.

Hope you don't have a daughter called Lola Mummycharli !!!

salsmum I aggree about it being a troll.
either that or someone who can't tell the difference between a wheelchair and a mobility scooter.

Why would I have a daughter named Lola?? (Sorry, am new to MN and confused lol)

You clearly don't watch cbeebies enough mummycharli - Charlie and Lola is cult viewing on here welcome to mumsnet!

Not really relevant, but there is a guy who uses a mobility scooter along the beach where i live. Whenever i see him coming i have to put my dog on a lead because he leaps on and hitches a ride. The chap is not ammused