Rollator V Baby Buggy

Turbogran

Thought I had heard all the excuses until today was waiting for a bus about to board the bus and the driver says sorry the buggy area is fully occupied can you fold that up meaning rollator. according to the sign in said area it states that its a wheelchair priority area also says priority seats for elderly or disabled people. good job the bus runs every 8-10 ins so didn't have to wait long. you really have to have a sense of humour these days

Slosh

There was a case about this last year when a wheelchair user took a bus company to court when he wasn't allowed on a bus because the space was being used by a mother with a buggy. Although he initially won, when it went to appeal he lost the case and the ruling was that bus drivers did not have to give priority to wheelchair users.

dreamdaisy

This irks me. Mums usually choose to burden themselves with buggies, we don't have a choice. I admit I dislike the pushchair Mafia - they steam on through crowds, expecting people to part like the Red Sea, simply because they are wielding a baby chariot. And don't forget the toddlers on the loose who cannon into my rollator and the mothers complain to me for being careless. :roll: DD

Turbogran

I heard about that slosh. It just seems that in London that every thing else has to move out to allow the buggies to get in but the mums can put the buggies in that area unfolded and take the child out and go upstairs on the bus and the driver says nothing about it. But I have even been asked to move out of the area to let a buggy in when I was on the bus first. Ive even been told if I cant fold the rollator up and put in the luggage rack and walk further down the bus to sit down then I should not be out on my own. its the way you are spoken too that annoys me as they speak to you as though you are a freak because you need these aids to get about. x

Turbogran

Hi DD
so true trouble is some of the mothers with babies can be so abusive to the drivers if they tell them they cant get on or fold the buggy up that the drivers don't challenge them they pick us to ask instead cos they think we will be more co-operative. to my mind if the disabled and elderly have no more right to this area than the mums with buggies then they need to remove the signs that say wheelchair and elderly/disabled priority area. :x :x but well hey ho all it dose is makes me want to go out each day just to see who I can annoy cos I'm in there way cos believe me if I'm already in that area before they get on I wont move he he

theresak

I would have found that so annoying - it ought to be possible to use public transport without having to face a barrage of opposition, or even in some cases, abuse. Why do mothers not fold down their buggies anymore? My sons were toddlers in the Seventies - when the Silver Cross still reigned, however heavy & impractical it was - and it was quite a struggle to fold the pushchair, then haul it onto the luggage shelf at the front of the bus, all the while trying to keep one or more boys in a firm grip.

stickywicket

I remember the 'wheelchair v buggy case. It was here in Leeds and I believe it's now goe to the Supreme Court.

I remember when he lost his case on appeal, the 'wheelchair man' was very gracious saying there should be provision for all. The case was not about a folded buggy though. It was simply that the mother refused to take her baby out of it so's it'd fold.

I feel very old as I type this but I remember the days when that mother wouldn't have acted so out of sheer shame. As kids we always stood up or squashed up for adults and felt a certain pride in doing it.

theresak

They're much more gracious about this sort of thing in France - on public transport in Paris no-one sits in the front seats reserved for the disabled and war veterans, otherwise they risk a telling-off in rapid French. I've always been offered a seat on bus or Metro because I use a walking stick.

Like Sticky, I can remember when this was the norm here.