A wheelchair user was left upset after a bus driver asked her weight before she could come aboard, her husband said.I'm assuming he was enquiring about the combined weight, for H&S reasons?
Her husband Keith, who is also disabled, said the driver challenged them, asking for his wife’s weight in her powered wheelchair and whether they had a permit allowing them on to the bus.
Mr Miller said: “I was a bit surprised at first but I assumed he meant our disabled bus passes. “But he said no, we had to have a permit, and asked my wife’s weight. I thought it was an early April Fool or something. I said the chair is about 60kg, otherwise you can mind your own business.
“He was quite a jobsworth, eventually he said we could come aboard this time but we would need a permit in future.”Hmmmm. How odd! What does the bus company have to say?
Yellow Buses has apologised to the couple for the mix-up over the permits, which were introduced earlier this month for users of mobility scooters following Department for Transport guidelines. The company’s head of marketing, Jenni Wilkinson, said: “We’re obviously sorry that Mr and Mrs Miller felt the need to complain to us and have apologised for the way this particular matter was handled.
“However, we totally refute any suggestion that our drivers are not completely professional when dealing with members of the public with disabilities.”Do you? How can you be so sure?
She said drivers received thorough disability awareness training including using a wheelchair themselves, as well as glasses which simulate impaired vision, and they must undergo regular refresher courses as part of their mandatory Certificate of Professional Competence.Gosh! I wonder how you train them to be respectful of the LGBT community?
On second thoughts, I'd rather not know...
11 comments:
Aaaah Yes, "X awareness training", a process whereby you completely P-off those who already had "the awareness" the training is designed to instill and see it as patronising and insulting; and of course those that didn't and who aren't going to actually change their real mindset because of the training and regard said training as "a waste of my time".
What's the difference between a motorized wheelchair and a mobility scooter?
(This is not a pun - I can't work it out at all).
“He was quite a jobsworth, eventually he said we could come aboard this time but we would need a permit in future.”
A real jobsworth would have never let you on
I once took part in some of that 'disability awareness training', complete with heavy gloves and wobbly glasses.
The instructors - sorry, facilitators - took it on themselves to enhance the authenticity of the experience by loudly mocking our attempts to carry out everyday tasks.
I think this was meant to 'help us understand the reality of discrimination'. Funnily enough, they seemed rather put out to be met with amusement and derision in equal measures; I'd have thought that was a healthy natural response to such bullying.
I don't know whether it has improved my disability awareness but it gave me a permanent loathing for all those useless parasites who conduct contracted-out workplace training at vast public expense.
Good job George (Iain Duncan) Smith doesn't travel by public transport. I mean, how heavy could his head and ego be to get on board a bus? Disasterous!
Oh, and George, you talk bollox. You are holding the vulnerable to ransom. Where is your focus on where the money really lies? No, you just pick on the weak. You make the unemployed (even those that volunteer in doing good) ditch looking for paid work and make them do jobs in crappy environments working for multi million pound employers that can afford to pay them but don't.
Yeah, you worked long and hard on your nasty little scam. You thought no one would see through it. It appears you are not as clever as you seem. Are you pissed off because you failed perhaps? You are a nasty scheming little shit that tried to plunge this country in communism. Are you now under pressure from those you tried to please with your greedy, grubby little hands and mind?
Do us all a favour and sod off back to the filthy little pit you belong in. You don't even want to be positive and show the nation you can survive on what you declare. Instead you shout, scream and point your finger instead of doing right by people.
You and your like are not wanted or trusted. If you think it was a disgrace that people partied on the streets about Thatcher (which shouldn't have happened.) imagine when you and that disgusting Nick Herbert die. The whole country will rejoice!!
Feral.
"Make measles jabs mandatory."
No, never,ever clever trevor must you make injections mandatory.
When this shit government is overturned, then people may have some trust. These wankers are not going to kill people because it suits them. The public should ALWAYS be entitled to their rights, so just fuck off you pompous headed bastards.
Feral.
The gay awareness class must be a right pain in the bum.
Just as there are prams and prams the size of small donkey carts, so there are motorised wheelchairs and mobility scooters like small cars. I honestly believe if you're going to use public transport you should not take over the entire midsection of the bus.
"...a process whereby you completely P-off those who already had "the awareness" the training is designed to instill and see it as patronising and insulting.."
Spot on!
"(This is not a pun - I can't work it out at all)"
Me neither! I wonder if there is no difference, and it's just semantics?
"A real jobsworth would have never let you on"
Heh! True :)
"... it gave me a permanent loathing for all those useless parasites who conduct contracted-out workplace training at vast public expense."
Oh, indeed! I've been on a few of these - they hate having their facts and pre-prepared statements questioned!
"...imagine when you and that disgusting Nick Herbert die. The whole country will rejoice!!"
Doubtful. I bet half of the country couldn't tell you who they were!
"The gay awareness class must be a right pain in the bum."
*chuckles*
"I honestly believe if you're going to use public transport you should not take over the entire midsection of the bus."
I rarely see anyone other than mothers with buggies taking up that space anyway...
Not an expert, but my understanding is: Motorised wheelchair still looks like a wheelchair, but the wheels are turned by electricity rather than by hand by the user or by someone pushing. It's bulkier than a basic chair (because of the need for the machinery) but not as long as the mobility scooter.
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