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

[Spidermama]

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?

Slings aren't much cop if you are planning on Christmas shopping.

I often get the train into Vauxhall and Clapham Jct overground and have on occasion asked for help with buggy (normally when DD asleep and don't want to bump it). Always been refused, they usually don't have the staff to actually leave the platform and it's not the job of train staff to carry buggies up and down stairs.

Wish I had know there was a (non) story in it, would have sold it myself

No, its something I do alot, would never dream of asking just get on with it. Disabled access is a completely different issue.

ps I am a sling 'fan' but don't always want to use it to go shopping - I need my buggy to hold my shopping. Tried it once with baby in sling and my arms nearly fell off holding the bags!

wannaBe- I'm not comparing someone with a buggy to someone with a disability; the buggy issue just highlights how inaccessible most transport is for wheelchair users.

I don't drive and use trains, tubes and buses- perversely, the smaller buggies are much more hassle to lug up and down stairs, so I got one with the big back wheels; so much easier to 'bump' up and down stairs with.

When I'm not using public transport, I have a massive old Silver cross pram (great undercarriage for shopping)... you would hate me

I wasn't aware of our stations policy when ds was small, I just assumed that nobody would help me as using the bus had already proved to be a nightmare. I just stayed at home and shopped online. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect assistance considering the government are always preaching about car use and asking people to use public transport.

Assuming she hasn't got any physical issues herself (and I'm pretty sure the Sun would have mentioned it if she had), she could fairly easily have got that buggy up the steps, over the bridge and down again. Yes, she'd maybe have had to take the baby out if she's not confident about bumping it - a useful skill to learn though - but she could have done it.

I live in a top floor flat and I'm no superhero. Sometimes there won't be anyone around, sometimes people won't stop to help, sometimes people will say no. We don't all go rushing off to the papers when it happens.

Non story.

Chaos - sling is key for these sort of situations though. Stick baby in sling, drag pram up and down steps, baby back in and sling tucked in your bag. Job done and not a reporter in sight.

I can sympathise with her stress and irritation at the time, but not to the extent of going to the papers.

In similar circs I've had help from passers-by or staff (staff round here seem more than happy to help), but I have definitely seen that as a favour rather than an obligation.

I can see why she was annoyed but I wouldn't have run to the Sun with my complaint either.
This made me think of a story in the local paper here the other week.
Woman complained as she hadn't been allowed on a bus with a huge double mountain buggy type thing as one bus already had a buggy on it and the next one the driver said the bus was too busy and she had to fold it.
This woman was complaining that with a baby and a toddler she couldn't fold it..was impossible...that's what this space is for.

I actually got really annoyed reading this I have a tiny Quinny Zapp and ds rarely goes on the bus in it I fold it up. I also would certainly never ever leave myself in a position relying on public transport with a buggy if it was physically impossible for me to fold it because had this woman actually managed to get onto a bus and a wheelchair had come on that would have taken priority over her and she would have to fold it or get off.

I don't know it is this sense of entitlement that some of these women with massive buggies seem to have sometimes that really does bother me. I don't feel I have a right to certain spaces on the bus or certain help when I am out with a buggy.
Yes I have struggled at times and on occasion have had to wait to do something at a time when dh can come with me as I couldn't manage on my own but I don't expect other people to help me when i'm out. Bloody nice and extremely grateful when they do but certainly don't demand or expect it.

but shonaspurtle if this woman had done that then what would she have had to complain about to everyone and get self-righteous about?and who could she have blamed all her problems on?
so you see the where the problem lies with your crazy utopian ideas of someone having some self-reliance and taking responsibility.

Shona, yes I know, but sling was not really appropriate in my case on that particular occasion, and isn't always doable. My child in buggy on the occasion I complained was 1 1/2 and I was about 6 months pregnant. I have used a sling loads and have bfed mine on station platforms in a sling with no one around me any the wiser.

I was just pointing out to those talking about slings that they are not always the option. Also, in my case the lift was out of order so should have been able to use that, and the station should have provided an alternative to those passengers who were relying on a lift being there.

I was going to say she could have used a sling or lightweight buggy but:

1. she was going to go in the car and it wouldn't start, maybe she goes everywhere by car; and

2. the baby is in the carseat on the pram chassis so maybe she has to travel somewhere at the other end - she probably had to get a taxi to the hospital from the station.

Personally, I would have unclipped the car seat and hoped that somebody could have helped me to carry the baby. It's not clear if it's the pram or the baby they were objecting to carrying.

A buggy does not equal a wheelchair.

Nobody assists in Sydney as the done thing is to bounce them up and down the stairs (DS used to love this). The first time someone grabbed the front of the buggy here in London I just about had a heart attack.

She sounds like she had a shit day and decided to spread the joy.

I think she was being a bit of a princess. It is perfectly possible to bump a buggy up some steps.

Ah the "elf and safety at work" strikes again.

Staff are afraid of being sued in the event anything goes wrong due to the above, this is why they did not help her. That buggy looks like a two part system as well; the seat/car seat and the separate chassis.

The station she used as well is part of the antiquated Victorian built network and has never been modernised since apart from cosmetic changes to infrastructure. When such stations were originally also built no one at the time ever considered that disabled people or parents would actually want to use it or even be able to. They were designed and constructed with only able bodied people in mind.

Wadhurst is only a small village station with two platforms. It would cost a small fortune to modernise it up to modern day standards with a lift and the rail company probably think its uneconomic to do so.

Presumably she doesn't catch the train much or she'd have noticed the steps. And re-arranged her appointment.

chaos I had no other option but to use a sling as a buggy in one hand and a guide dog in the other really doesn't work (although I didn't find that out until I went out and bought a beautiful, and expensive, travel system for the purpose ).

It's only really been in the past ten years or so that buggy-friendly busses have been around (and actually they were designed for wheelchair access not buggies so parents have the DDA to thank), but parents have been managing to travel with buggies on busses for deckades, have been folding them up quite happily while travelling with their children, and yet suddenly there is need to complain about not being able to wheel a buggy on to a buss even though that's only recently been possible. The phrase "in my day" never was so relevant.

I do think the disabled access in some stations is wofully inadequate, in fact I have to go to London in a couple of weeks and have to adapt my journey on the underground because the station I would travel to has an escalator and I'm taking the dog and he can't travel on the escalator or I have to pick him up (no thanks).

But to go to the papers is just wining.

It may be possible to bump the buggy up some steps (and that can be hard going even with assistance) but going down them with baby in tow is an entirely different prospect. Its not just one or two steps either that need to be negotiated.

Goodness knows what this lady would make of the London Underground. Access to parts of that network are still poor even in these supposedly enlightened times.

Such places when constructed were only designed by and built for the working man. It was never considered that times would change as much as they have, forward planning was not considered.

I don't think it's the station staff's job to carry buggies tbh.

I know that when my mother travelled to see us by train we had to book assistance beforehand. I always found that if you looked pathetic enough with a baby and buggy then someone would eventually help!

hasn't she seen the untouchables!

I think she's being ridiculous and looking for a reason to be in the papers.

The staff are there to do a job and that doesn't include carrying prams or people's luggage. If you need a hand, ask a member of the public going the same way.

I found that by the time I'd bumped the buggy up or down a few steps then usually someone would come along and grab the other end. But even if they didn't it's really no big deal to bump it. It just takes a bit of time. I certainly wouldn't have expected an employee to help.