Camden New Journal - Letters: Don't bully the buggy people

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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 17 May 2007

Don’t bully the buggy people

• YET again, travelling on the 24 bus today, I watched the systematic bullying of a vulnerable group of passengers by the driver. These are passengers who are unable to walk any great distance, if at all. Their carers are often sleep deprived, stressed and sometimes pregnant.
Although there were only a handful of passengers on the bus and ample space in the designated area, time and again the driver left travellers with – and in – pushchairs waiting in the rain. He refused to open the doors or was deliberately unhelpful.
Transport for London’s policy states that unfolded pushchairs should only be denied when “it is so crowded that there is no room for you to travel safely”. Further that “you will only be refused admittance when it is absolutely necessary”. Sadly, many drivers ignore these rules and are rude in the process.
Some drivers are considerate of all passengers, but others only allow one unfolded pushchair even though there’s space for two or three in the wheelchair/buggy space. It is clearly safer to leave children strapped into their buggies than to struggle to carry them and a folded buggy in addition to any other luggage.
It is time we challenged this attitude and treated this group of passengers as a priority. If we want a greener and more inclusive Camden, we need to make buses a realistic travel option for everyone.
I am writing to the bus operator, Metroline, and TfL. I encourage others who are unnecessarily left behind at the bus-stop to do the same until bus companies stop this discrimination.
LUCY THOMAS
Kingsford Street, NW5

• REVENUE Protection Inspectors do patrol the N29 on a regular basis (Driven mad by the bullies on the bus, May 3) and it is certainly not a free bus.
Fare evasion is a crime; anyone found to be deliberately avoiding paying the correct fare for their journey could receive a criminal record
and a £1,000 fine.
In the event of any incident on the bus, passengers should inform the driver who can request help and police assistance through a call to a 24-hour control room.
The N29 is also patrolled regularly by officers from the MPS Transport Operational Command Unit and Police Community Support Officers.
TfL believes that it is unacceptable for anyone to impose their music on other people in the confined space which we all have to share. Posters asking passengers not to play any music out loud and to keep the noise from their headphones down will be on every one of London’s 8,000 buses by the end of the summer. Existing posters asking for consideration of others have already been introduced across the bus network.
STEVE BURTON
Deputy Director of Transport Policing & Enforcement, TfL

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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