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Original poster

Station staff refused to help her carry buggy so she went to the papers. Has she got a point?

197 replies

Spidermama · 30/11/2009 15:56

Here.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Part of me thinks there must be lifts for disabled people she could have used but maybe I'm being unsisterly. I kind of feel sorry for the staff who've been blamed and find themselves in the paper.

What do you think?

OP posts:
QOFEisinatizz · 30/11/2009 15:58

Loads of stations don't have lifts. I don't know why as you'd think the DDA would apply to public transport.

The staff will usually help you carry a buggy if you take the baby out - I have been told several times that its the baby they aren't insured to lift, not the buggy.

PuppyMonkey · 30/11/2009 15:59

I'm not sure either, but I do like the line "railed against train staff." Love The Sun writing sometimes...

sarah293 · 30/11/2009 16:00

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QOFEisinatizz · 30/11/2009 16:02

Are they expected to pay for the privelege of travelling however many stops in the wrong drection as well?

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/11/2009 16:04

This is a non-story. What's wrong with her hoiking the buggy up and down the stairs herself, loads of people do this day in day out without rushing off to the Sun.

eastendmummy · 30/11/2009 16:04

I've had numerous occassions on the tube and overland train of train staff refusing to help because of H +S and I'm also pregnant so really struggle with my son's buggy. Fortunately other passengers are usually helpful - even old ladies have offered in the past, although I always decline their assistance in case they end up hurting themselves! It's so hard to travel on trains with a pram as most stations don't have lifts or escalators and I'm often shocked by how unhelpful staff are. I wouldn't go to running to the Sun though - I just stay privately pissed off.

MrsMerryHenry · 30/11/2009 16:04

While I sympathise with her for having found it difficult to get help with her whopping great juggernaut of a buggy (I had one of those once - get a Maclaren if you're using public transport, dear) I mostly feel very disappointed that she went to the papers. I think it's an indication of how heavily our culture is influenced by the press.

Surely she should have just made her complaint to a higher authority at the train operator? I think that would have been a more sensible course of action.

Her baby is very little so unless she has back problems she could have easily managed with a lighter buggy or even a sling. OR she could have asked a member of the public - I've never asked a member of station staff to help as I see that sort of thing as anyone's responsibility. Though it's possible that at a small village station there was nobody else around.

Actually, come to think of it, the wheels on a Quinny Buzz are so bloody massive and pneumatic that you could easily bump it down the stairs. I used to, with a larger child than hers.

Okay, I really have little sympathy for her now - she clearly hasn't bothered to make an effort/ plan/ think through her actions at any stage of this silly story.

spicemonster · 30/11/2009 16:06

I don't think she has. It's not their job to get you to the platform. Someone will usually help, they usually help me.

Although it's a bit silly taking a 10 week old out in a buggy when you know there's loads of steps to contend with. Why didn't she carry the baby in a sling FGS?

TotalChaos · 30/11/2009 16:09

agree with getorf. but riven raises a valid point about poor disabled access.

alwayslookingforanswers · 30/11/2009 16:09

I do sympathise with her a bit - silly to go to the papers with it though.

It does rile me when I see comments like "get a smaller buggy if you're using public transport".

Well some of us rarely do - and it does say in the article that she had to get the train as her car wouldn't start. I know I bought a pushchair to meet my needs - a good sturdy one that would cope with lots of walking and being flung in and out of the cupboard (I guess for her the car) when it needed putting away.

NickNemo · 30/11/2009 16:10

We have a similar situation where I live, however, we are only 2 stops from the end of the line, so I just stay on and come back on the train coming back. If questioned about tickets, I just point to the buggy and tell them where I want to go and they always let me off. It adds 20 odd minutes to the journey, but better that than having to walk a good 30 minutes back from the next accessible station.

That said, I have never had a problem with someone willing to help take the buggy up the stairs if necessary. In fact, almost always someone or the other will ask if they can help. Its easier now that DD is able to walk, obviously!

Its too much to take it to the newspapers though. Come on!!

thedollshouse · 30/11/2009 16:10

At our station you can ring them in advance if you need assistance with children, they meet you at the station, carry your buggy up the steps, onto the train and make sure that you and your child are seated. My friend does this regularly, they also make arrangements so that you are taken care of at the other end.

I don't think that the woman was unreasonable to expect a bit of assistance, I personally wouldn't have managed a 10 week old and a pushchair without help.

MrsBadger · 30/11/2009 16:12

SIBU

there probably isn't a lift at 'a small village station' - there's certainly not at ours

in fact it doesn't have staff at all

I am mean and in general think you shouldn;t travel with more than you can handle alone...

mayorquimby · 30/11/2009 16:15

absolute self-centred whining. they're not porters. yes it would be nice if they helped you but if they don't you don't go to the fucking papers.
are they expected to carry every passengers baggage across the platform or just hers because she has miraculously managed to reproduce.

sarah293 · 30/11/2009 16:15

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MrsBadger · 30/11/2009 16:17

[sigh]
I should have added 'special needs notwithstanding of course'

madwomanintheattic · 30/11/2009 16:21

lol @ 'i am mean'

a lovely policeman helped me with dd2's wheelchair when the disabled lift was out of order at king's cross (aren't they looking younger nowadays?), but only after a random passing member of the public helped me get it up four lots of escalotors from the underground...

at our local station in the uk there are no lifts and no disabled access to one of the two platforms. if you let them know in advance they order you a taxi to take you to the next station with access.

this daft mare was just obviously in a bad mood from having her car not start, and got steadily mardier as the day went on. why the sun insists on printing this stuff i don't know. (well, i do. it's clearly because similar minded folk buy it lol. fortunately i don't, but will read through it if it's left on the train seat, just to catch up on the latest non-news really.) the quote is pure class though

madwomanintheattic · 30/11/2009 16:22

escalotors?
escalators...

thedollshouse · 30/11/2009 16:22

So should Women and children be shut indoors then MrsBadger? Whatever happened to common decency, it used to be that people would help each other out if they saw someone in difficulty but now it seems that the attitude is "Stuff you, you chose to have kids now you must get on with it".

sarah293 · 30/11/2009 16:22

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tethersend · 30/11/2009 16:23

I find it alarming that there is not one clear-cut policy for the whole of the rail network... [anti-privatisation emoticon]

MrsBadger, every station without a lift is a station which disabled people are unable to use. Sometimes travel is a necessity not a luxury; and not everyone has a car.

wannaBe · 30/11/2009 16:25

I don't think you can compare someone with a buggy to someone with a disability though.

Someone with a disability should be assisted if no lift etc is available, no question. But someone with a massive buggy chooses to travel with a massive buggy. They do have other choices, get a smaller buggy for travelling purposes (those massive buggies are huge and take up half the pavement/the isles in shops etc so are inconsiderate anyway) or put the baby in a sling.

If one has choices then first exercise those choices before demanding help.

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/11/2009 16:29

I had (14 years ago) one of those stupid mamas and Papas bouncy prams with the big wheels. It had a seperate carrycot and was a sod to fold up. Still went on the bus with it all the time (days of old fashioned buses which you couldn't walk prams onto, you had to fold them up and fit them into a 10cm wide buggy space next to the driver). I coped all right, mind you was a lot younger (and resilent) then. Don't know what this daft happorth is going on about.

alwayslookingforanswers · 30/11/2009 16:31

wannabe - I could afford just one pushchair - I had to buy the one that most suited my needs. As I rarely used public transport I didn't buy one that was "suitable" for it.

I presume this was her first - perhaps having had 10 weeks of using the car and pushchair walking she hadn't actually bought a sling - certainly wasn't something I thought of 1st time round.

ChaosInCamelot · 30/11/2009 16:32

Similar happened to me once - I was travelling from city centre back to my house. I knew that city centre station had a lift and the stop near my house is fine to get on and off with buggy (so was in theory fine on my own). I had a 3 1/2 year old on foot, a 1 1/2 year old in buggy and was visibly pg with DC3. Lift was broken and station staff refused to help me with buggy unless I took out the baby. I would have dragged the buggy upstairs alone if I didn't have to hold the hand of the 3 year old - I only needed a hand and would have taken half the 'load'. I didn't want to have 2 toddlers loose on a train platform and then have to let go of 3 year olds hand to get the younger one back into the buggy.

They weren't even apologetic. I was really annoyed and after walking home (well over an hour with toddler walking) I phoned the railway company to complain. I would definitely use public transport a lot more if I did not have some sort of incident/problem nearly every time I try and do it with the children.

I often see an empty/nearly empty train passing our local station. I wonder why .

Though in the case of this article I don't see why it couldn't have been dragged up the steps by her, but we don't know, maybe she'd had a c section or something and didn't want to do anything strenuous.