Mark Hibberd (Ed: great 'folded arms & frowning' pic, by the way. Worthy of APILN), 39, of Masefield Close, says he asked the 229 bus driver to request passengers with buggies to fold them so he could move into the wheelchair space at around 3.30pm on Nov 14.
He claims the driver told him the passengers had refused to do so and that Mr Hibberd could not come on board.
Mr Hibberd, who suffers from dystonic cerebral palsy, told News Shopper: "The wheelchair/buggy area had two buggies in it but both were empty.
"I called out to ask the driver to ask for the buggies to be folded so that I could get into the relevant space.
"I was told to ‘f*** off’.
"I said that I was going to put in a formal complaint and asked him his name and he told me 'Joe Bloggs' and sarcastically asked what I was going to do about that.’"Go to the local newspaper, of course!
The bus company sighs and shrugs and says 'Whaddayagonnado?':
Ken Davidson, TfL’s head of bus operations, said: "We are always concerned when wheelchair users experience problems using our services.
"In this instance we understand the bus driver used an automated announcement requesting that the owners of the buggies move or fold them to enable Mr Hibberd to board the bus.
"Sadly the buggy owners chose not to do so."Maybe a £5500 compo claim (and fine) will change your mind that that's all you need to do in these cases?
But what sort of women won't fold empty buggies in the first place?
Kath Forrest, of Brook Street in Erith, was waiting at the same bus stop near Colyers Lane and said although she did not hear a profanity, the driver’s attitude was "patronising, unprofessional and unhelpful".
The 62-year-old said: "Mark told me what happened, so I got on and stood at the front of the bus and said ‘could you please fold your buggies? He is a wheelchair user.’
"One of the ladies said the babies were sleeping. "I said 'It's a wheelchair bay. She just clicked her lips at me and said no."'Clicked her lips'..? Hmmm...
And I'm not the only one:
*This time, Mothers of No Appearance...
http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2013/september/unlawful-deny-wheelchair-space-buses
ReplyDeleteThanks for that link J00lz, I've just emailed it over to my Spaz son. Might help him the next time he tries to get on a bus full of Mumsnetting Buggyites. Or rather it might help him when he gets arrested for 'assault' for verbally smacking the stupid selfish mare.
As the 229 comes from Thamesmead and is known locally as 'The Lagos Express ' you may have the right of it
ReplyDelete"Might help him the next time he tries to get on a bus full of Mumsnetting Buggyites."
ReplyDeleteThe bus company needs to man up - they have a legal obligation. And not to BuggyMum!
"...known locally as 'The Lagos Express '..."
Heh!
An enterprising person removing the buggies from the bus altogether and any complaints answered with "The bay has a wheelchair in it so you can either fold the buggy up or get off and wait for the next bus." could be a suitable way of dealing with this.
ReplyDeleteWhat time is the next 229?
Penseivat