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Clacton: disabled Dominic angry after being turned away from bus
11:00am Tuesday 16th September 2008
Comments (14)A WHEELCHAIR user was left furious after being turned away from a bus.
Dominic Lund-Conlon flagged down the 137 Hedingham bus from Station Road, in Clacton, to go to the town’s Tesco store, along with wife Natasha and six-month-old daughter, Anna, who he was carrying in a sling.
The 26-year-old was appalled when the driver refused to let him board the bus, as there were already buggies in the space set aside for wheelchairs.
“Legally, wheelchairs have priority over buggies,” said Mr Lund-Conlon, who suffers from muscular dystrophy.
“Under the Disability Discrimination Act, the driver should have enforced the law and asked the passengers to fold their buggies or leave the vehicle.
“I told him that he was breaking the law, but he was adamant that he wasn’t going to get involved.
“Then, when I asked the mothers to fold down their buggies, they refused.”
He added: “I was considering putting my wheelchair in front of the bus and calling the police.”
With the driver and passengers refusing to help, the couple were forced to let the bus go and wait for the next one, due half an hour later.
Mrs Lund-Conlon was left as angry and upset as her husband.
She said: “The driver should have taken responsibility for the situation.
“Passengers also need to be more co-operative and realise how hard it can be to get around if you’re disabled.”
Hedingham Omnibuses managing director Robert MacGregor said the driver had been caught between the mothers and Mr Lund-Conlon during the incident.
“But the wheelchair user should always come first,” he said.
“We are going to do our very best to sort this out and make sure the situation doesn’t happen again. We will be putting up posters from Essex County Council telling passengers to give up the wheelchair space to disabled people.
“Hopefully, that way we re-emphasise the point.”
Your Say YourGazette
hughie-s, Here says...
2:28pm Tue 16 Sep 08
The driver was in a no win situation as the story would then have been about mothers and children thrown off the bus
Say It As It Is OK?, From Colchester says...
2:39pm Tue 16 Sep 08
It is no excuse to ignore a situation like this and the bus company should carryout more than just put a notice up. This is just an attempt to shirk their responsibility. They should sack the driver!
But, they won't, and he knows employment law these days means they can't sack him. He'll most probably not even get disciplined because of the fear they will all go out on strike.
Sauying that there are some excellent bus drivers who are very helpful but it is always these jobsworths that get the publicity for the wrong reasons.
Citizen 139, Colchester says...
2:41pm Tue 16 Sep 08
The Enforcer, Colchester says...
5:45pm Tue 16 Sep 08
general public, colchester says...
8:46pm Tue 16 Sep 08
Boris, Colchester says...
12:58am Wed 17 Sep 08
As for waiting for the next bus, disabled people should only have to wait if there is another wheelchair user already on board, but not otherwise.
If Enforcer thinks disabled people are always moaning then he should try life in a wheelchair. Or he could try an encounter with the GB Paralympics wheelchair rugby team and see whether he is still breathing at the end of it.
As for the selfish mothers, if they won't co-operate then the bus company should ban pushchairs altogether.
van man, colchester says...
8:16am Wed 17 Sep 08
Why should they not wait for the next bus? What makes him so special? These people want equality, but only when it suits them. The bus driver was correct to do what he did, would you expect him to order a wheelchair to be folded up to make way for another?
There is too much of this sort of thing going on, treating these people better then normal people, everyone should be treated the same, and if i have to wait for a not-so-full bus, then so should this man.
smudge*, colchester says...
10:18am Wed 17 Sep 08
Poacher, Clacton says...
11:27am Wed 17 Sep 08
Absolutely appalling, you, the driver and the mothers, especially the one that was taking up the disabled space, whould hang their heads in shame.
Fox Hat, Colchester says...
11:59am Wed 17 Sep 08
Wheelchair users have a right to space on a bus enshrined in law, pram users don't.
Boris, Colchester says...
12:57am Thu 18 Sep 08
Van man probably spends most of his time in his van, which would explain his ignorance of the rules for using buses. He should try meeting a few disabled people and then maybe he would understand what they are up against.
general public, colchester says...
2:28am Thu 18 Sep 08
Boris, Colchester says...
8:53pm Fri 19 Sep 08
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Citizen 139, Colchester says...
12:06pm Tue 16 Sep 08
Of course like everyone else he chose not to accept any responsibility.