7.5 months pregnant & rudely refused a seat on the train!

adouglasmhor

jizzler wrote: »

take no notice just look for one where *max * comes from & all his comments are really self exsplanitory !

Harsh! I have always found many people from the province to be very polite indeed. Of course there are examples of pig ignorance everywhere.

adouglasmhor

barbiedoll wrote: »

On a slightly different note, Transport for London are currently running a campaign reminding mothers that wheelchair users have priority over pushchairs and buggy users and that they have to be prepared to fold their prams if required to do so. This is another instance of giving passengers a benefit, which they then take as an absolute entitlement. How do they think that mothers travelled with their kids before prams were allowed on buses? We got our kids out and folded our prams up. Yet I have seen and heard some unholy rows on buses over prams and pushchairs taking up space, again, passengers expect to travel on crowded vehicles as though it were their own personal transport.

Manners and good sense are in short supply on public transport, that's for sure!

My GF used to be a carer for someone paraplegic in a fully moulded wheelchair, she had women with pushchairs telling her they could ask her to move to let them put their pushchair in.

adouglasmhor

jaqui59 wrote: »

Question ...

When and why did the Human Race begin to behave so diabolically?

When did it not?

Treevo

I've been in a situation where I've been asked to leave my reserved seat so someone else could sit down. I refused. There were plenty of other people to ask, and plenty of seats available in first class should the need be that great but I had booked and paid for my seat and there wasn't a chance in hell that I was moving from it. And I won't be made to feel guilty about it because I refuse to discuss my medical history with a complete stranger.

adelight

I don't even bother sitting down on the tube anymore unless most of the seats are free. I just know it will fill up soon or someone will need my seat and I can't help feeling guilty.
People always leap up when they see someone wearing a baby on board tube badge but I've noticed people rarely offer seats to the elderly on my usual routes. I often see someone who is clearly elderly and hunched over have someone middle aged push passed them to get the last seat.

System

I admit i do sit in priority seats (i have a disabled pass and get panicky on public transport so prefer to sit alone and not be crowded around by people) BUT i'll always give up my seat for elderly and pregnant people, even if it means i have a panic attack

That said i did once have a whole train carraige full of people lay into me and give me abuse for sitting in a priority seat once. It was rammed and i felt really panicky but would have given up my seat but didn't get chance before some guy started having a go at me saying someone who is young and healthy shouldnt be sat there. I pointed out i had a disabled pass and was allowed to sit there but he accuse dme of faking it and then about 10 other people joined in shouting at me. It really shook me up...had a complete breakdown on the train. Luckily my friend got on at another stop and gave them a piece of his mind...

lostinrates

will.i.amnt wrote: »

I stay away from priority seats too,far too much hassle.

However,if they're the last ones left, I'll sit in one. Thing is,if I stand in one place too long my back muscles spasm and don't de-stress again for hours, or days. I'm 6'2" and relatively fit looking, but, yes, im just as entitled to sit as a pregnant woman imo. Taking tramadol for back pain really isn't my idea of fun,and my work put me sick for 48hrs every time i take it.

The problem is, i dont LOOK like i have anything wrong with me, if someone like the OP asked me to move,id refuse, but everyone else on the bus/train would think i was a !!!!!!. That's hardly fair.

I often look ok too, but am not. I sometimes have a stick but try to avoid it. Somedays I cannot really walk at all, others I can run. I have a complex set of neurological problems and I get muscle spasms in back....legs...hands.. And nerve pain anywhere you can think of.

I still give my seat up when I am without a stick for the elderly or for those who just look more dodgy or in need at the time than me.

Being 'broken' doesn't mean there is no one worse off than us.

I once was on a terribly terribly busy train with someone else who seemed 'a bit able' like me. We had never met, and I was sitting when she joined the train. I suggested that rather than either of us suffer we take turns, so we took quarter hour slots. No one else offered the other one of us a seat, and w coped. I was having a good day and didn't sit for the last couple of turns before I got off. I cannot stand still though, and did lots of bending and leaning. Having someone to chat with perked me up.

Had the other person been even less able I would have sat on the floor, I have done that before now, and I have been upgraded for free on busy trains, because conductors won't/ can't ask people to move either.

Lavendyr

Interestingly, First Capital Connect priority seats (at least those on the train I was on the other day) don't say they are for pregnant ladies - just for elderly or disabled.

If I was lucky enough to have got a seat on a train (and on my commute they are pretty rare!), I'd still offer it to a pregnant lady (she'd need to be showing for me to notice I'm afraid though - I tend to spend my train journeys sunk in a book listening to music). Even if in a non-priority seat I'd keep half an eye out in case someone looked like they needed a seat. Once I watched a blind man walk from one end of the carriage to another. Not one person offered him a seat until he got to my end and a chap sitting next to me offered his seat (I would have offered mine but he beat me to it).

I also gave up my seat once to let a rather large French lady sit in it - she had sat in the middle of a three-seat row (again, First Capital Connect) and kept wriggling around to try and make more space for herself between the two men either side. She ended up in quite an aerated and rude argument with one of the men which got so awkward I eventually told her to go sit in my seat if it would make them both shut up. I could have taken her seat but chose to stand the rest of the way - but it was worth it!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Lavendyr wrote: »

Interestingly, First Capital Connect priority seats (at least those on the train I was on the other day) don't say they are for pregnant ladies - just for elderly or disabled.

First Capital Connect Priority Scheme

' Who can apply?
Any person who cannot stand safely for their journey and are elderly, pregnant, or have a disability. '

http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/customer-care/priority-cards/priority-card-faqs/

Lavendyr

Yes, I know that's what their scheme says, but I'm stating what the stickers on the priority seats on the train I was on said. It could just be that it's old rolling stock that hasn't been updated, but train users are not to know that.