BBC Mar 10, 2010

Mothers may have to move aside to make way for wheelchairs

Parents with buggies who take up wheelchair spaces on buses face a crackdown in a government campaign to improve passengers' experiences.

The issue has been flagged up alongside passengers who drink and smoke on board buses, in a consultation paper by the Department of Transport.

Officials say the idea, for England, is not about "penalising parents".

Parenting website Mumsnet said it increasingly seemed that parents with buggies were viewed as a nuisance.

You have to have sympathy for mothers struggling with a toddler, baby and shopping Justine Robert, Mumsnet

Parents who park their prams or pushchairs on buses in a space which stops wheelchair users being able to board a bus are highlighted in the DfT consultation paper.

The issue of people who smoke and drink and are drunk on buses is also raised as a concern.

Bus drivers who send elderly people flying by driving away quickly from bus stops, before they have had time to sit down, are also mentioned.

The consultation asks for views on how significant these problems are. It says these issues are all covered by regulations and breaches of them are criminal offences although there is little enforcement in practice.

Justine Roberts, co-founder of online forum Mumsnet, said: "I don't think anyone has any beef with moving over for wheelchairs.

"It is more the idea that parents with buggies are seen as a public nuisance which seems to be the prevailing view.

"You have to have sympathy for mothers struggling with a toddler, baby and shopping. We need to be more inclusive of mothers and children."

She said she would not say buggies should take priority on buses but that more space should be provided for buggy storage.

"Are you going to say that mothers and children should not travel?", she said.

She said it was "unfortunate" that the prams issue was grouped with anti-social drinking and smoking on buses.

Fold buggies away

But the DfT said this was only because they were covered under the same piece of legislation.

A DfT spokesperson said: "We are committed to listening to bus passengers and putting their interests first.

"These proposals are not about penalising parents with pushchairs, they are about tackling operators who persistently neglect their responsibilities to provide wheelchair users with the space they need."

Current legislation requires a bus driver to allow a wheelchair user to board if a wheelchair space is unoccupied.

The number and style of prams and buggies is decided by local operators.

The DfT said parents with children in pushchairs could carry the children, fold the pushchair and stow it away while wheelchair users could only travel in the wheelchair space.

In the consultation document, the government is also proposing a ban on drinking on buses in England.