Bus driver refused me boarding in wheelchair

[MobilityCat]

I was refused boarding again recently but because I now know the law I jammed the door open and told him that I won't move until he let me on. I quoted the law below and he gave up and cleared the wheelchair space for me.

"S24 of the Public Passenger Vehicle Act 1981 states

Bus drivers refusing to allow wheelchair users onto buses where the wheelchair space is either unoccupied or occupied by people who can readily and reasonably move are committing a crime. They can be prosecuted, given a £500 fine and 3 penalty points."

I should have been more specific. Being a woman is not a protected characteristic which is what a pp said. Being discriminated against for being a woman is. However I cannot see how that applies in this case. Anyone of any sex can be pushing a buggy. The only person here who is being discriminated against is the wheelchair user who is being prevented from using the space which is legitimately theirs.

Buses are generally difficult for anyone with a disability - particularly wheelchair-users of course - plus older people, and parents of young children/pregnant women. Some bus drivers are absolute tw*ts - I have lost count of the number of older people I have treated (urgent care HCP), who have been flung over on the bus by the driver accelerating off at speed, before they can sit down. A fractured hip carries a high mortality rate so these are potentially life-ending injuries.

Has anyone been to a country that has solved these issues? Many places that I have travelled in Europe are actually worse, with steep steps to board the bus.

You’ve slightly misunderstood the terminology of anti-discrimination law. To clarify:
The starting point is that service providers can choose to provide services to whoever they want. If they want to refuse service to all people wearing trainers, they can do that (look at nightclub entry policies). Another example is that airlines can refuse to allow boarding to drink people. But if you substitute “wearing trainers” or “being drunk” with a protected characteristic like being black, being a woman or having a disability (there are 9 listed in the Equality Act 2010), then it’s unlawful discrimination.

So being discriminated against for being a woman is not “a protected characteristic”. Being a woman is a protected characteristic and if it is the reason for you being treated in a specific way, that makes it discrimination. With buggy users, the bus company would be able to treat them all as a group, the important thing would be not to single out black buggy users, or female ones. It can get murky when there is a blurred line between behaviour/dress and the protected characteristic eg if you refuse service to people wearing crosses, can you get away with it because some people who wear crosses do it for fashion but are not religious? This link explains it more
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act/protected-characteristics

That's king big bus !

@AndiOliversFan I haven't misunderstood it, but yours is a very good explanation. Equally being a man is a protected characteristic.

Thank you for this, anyone could end up needing to use a wheelchair and this country seems woefully equipped

Thanks, but you definitely did misunderstand a bit because you said “being discriminated against for being a woman is a protected characteristic” and you told a poster who said “being a woman is a protected characteristic” that she was wrong.

PS I said you misunderstood the terminology, not the law itself.

They're not designed for folding when I'm literally moving my newborn twins miles. They're designed for being UP then, otherwise why would anyone ever use one if their main purpose is to be folded up?

You're more likely to have parents traipsing around on a bus than in a MC area where they can afford a car.

Most buses based on these threads. Generalisation hence not stating all buses are like my buses and I know everything.

So I should miss my hospital appt for my children on the low likelihood that someone else will need it because screw my kids health? I appreciate why you think my kids health doesn't matter. I respectfully disagree and will move out of the way if needed assuming the driver gives anyone chance.

Newborns don’t use pushchairs

Pram = walk. It's a 3hr 40 minute walk each way to my sons hospital. You're being ridiculous to think we should walk for over 4 hours each way with comfort breaks. That means leaving the house at 8 for a midday appt and getting home at 5.

Ah don't you know if you're a his user you're meant to also buy an umbrella pram for your tiny, possibly prem, unto they're big enough to double sling them, whilst you also carry all the paraphanelia (sp??) or two tiny poop machines. Otherwise screw your midwife appts etc, you can just stay home until they're 5.

Or just use the space and get off and wait for the next bus on the very rare occasion that a wheelchair user needs their space.

If I'm standing in the wheelchair space on a crowded bus and wheelchair user needs to get on, I have no issue with vacating it and getting off the bus if necessary. It seems to me that there is no question that that space is there for people in wheelchairs, if they need it they have to have it.

Exactly, I jumped up to say I was moving (someone with a single said they'd collapse) but he just waved me back and drive off. Attitude that with buses every 7 minutes it's fine, except they're often NOT. The responsibility is on the driver to give people chance to move, to direct them to if they don't offer and not to force OP to blockade the bus.

If you see that happening, it could be worth noting down the bus and driver's details an reporting them to the transport authorities. It doesn't appear that drivers will learn unless and until they realise that prosecutions can and will happen.

If I were on a bus with my grandchild in a pushchair, there is no way I’d be able to fold it down as well as hold onto her plus any shopping that may be under the pushchair. I would have to get off the bus.

And?

I'm not suggesting you walk... I am recollecting my thoughts/memories/experiences of the old days.

That ain't happening with a double strong enough to take twins over 15kg each 😂

Fuck me those are some heavy newborns 🤣

Why? Putting a double buggy in a wheelchair space when there is no wheelchair user who needs it is perfectly acceptable and doesn't hurt any wheelchair user so long as the buggy owner is prepared to move if a person in a wheelchair needs the space. @SleepingStandingUp made it perfectly clear that she was.

yes, and what? You’d have to get off to make space for the person in a wheelchair, that’s the point. As you should