More 'Elderly Bashing' - DM again!

No comment! Except to add that the other passengers might well have had their own disabilities - and as you say, the mother is presumably young and fit. Bl**dy DM stirring as usual.

It doesn't say whether any non-elderly passengers offered to stand so that the older people could sit in their seat and the mother then take the elderly one. If I had been on the bus and saw the situation, that is what I would have done.

Then again, there are seats reserved for the elderly AND places for a buggy. Did the bus in question have both or just one to share?

On the buses here, if the buggy place is taken (by a buggy), the driver does not allow another buggy on, they have to wait for the next. How would that have been reported on the DM?

How come she was unable to put the brake on? It doesn't take a lot of space to get a foot into the right position.

I havent read the article and very rarely use the bus myself but my mum is in a wheelchair and my elderly dad pushes her around. They do not drive and rely on buses to get around. Some of the stories my parents have told me make me so mad. Some people are just selfish. It has nothing to do with age. My mum and dad have been left standing at a bus stop as the bus can only hold two pushchairs or wheelchairs and young mums have refused to fold their pushchair to let my mum on. Bus drivers have refused to lower the ramp as they are running late, other elderly people sit in the front folding seats and refuse to move even though they are supposed to be for the carer of the disabled person. Selfishness comes in all ages.

It's possible to read this in different ways - on my local buses, the space for wheelchsirs and buggies has tip down seats if that space isn't being used. She couldn't fold the buggy because of the boy's cp and so needed the dedicated space for the buggy. On our buses, the driver would tell the passengers on the tip down seats to move - it was then up to other passengers to offer seats to those displaced if they were in greater need but IMO I see a lot of miserable entitled old people who are perfectly capable of standing if necessary. I don't think she was after a seat - apshe wanted that special space so she could stand safely with the pushchair

all she

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-disabled-toddler-left-tears-3951576

This explains it better - it's not the Daily Mail. It makes more sense and yes the driver and the other people were miserable, entitled old sods

The DM must be short of stories today - the incident hardly rates being in a national newspaper!

I have to say that in London, for all its traffic and millions of commuters, I rarely see bad pushchair/wheelchair behaviour. Even on a crowded bus if there is already a pushchair in place the parent turns it sideways-on to make space for another, and standing passengers shuffle around or go upstairs.

On one occasion two mums/dads got off the bus voluntarily to make way for a wheelchair.

Thank goodness I get travel sick on buses so never use them.

young mums have refused to fold their pushchair to let my mum on

I don't know if it was just a West Midlands Travel rule but mothers were always instructed to fold the pushchair - which is what I did when my two children were still toddlers. I can understand a buggy for a disabled child (and they are instantly recognisable as they usually have straps and headrest) being allowed to remain in place but I'm surprised that ordinary pushchairs can remain opened - that would take up a lot of space and could be dangerous if the bus lurched or stopped suddenly with any standing passengers being thrown forward.

Yes, Holly, they do take up a lot of space since baby buggies are now as big as a small car. Folded they are about as big as a child's bike. On most buses in this city there are two spaces for buggies and wheelchairs, one each side. Wheelchairs have priority. Most mothers seem to accept waiting for the next bus when the spaces are already taken but you do get the odd one who tries to squeeze a buggy in alongside another. Often that happens when two women are together and don't want to be separated. Heavy duty tutting and leg lacerations usually ensue.