TfL Route 52 bus driver ignores wheelchair user's request to alight
Date: 27th July 2024
Alighting Time: 13:33
Route: 52 towards Victoria
Alighting Location: Chepstow Villas
Reg. no. LK67 EMF
I am a wheelchair user.
As the bus approached Chepstow Villas bus stop, I pressed the blue buzzer, and the special siren alert rang clearly. The driver ignored it, ignored the visual alert on his dashboard, didn't deploy the ramp, didn't let me alight, and allowed a large number of passengers to board, causing congestion, stress and annoyance for me and for the other passengers.
He kept me waiting for a long time, and failed to deploy the ramp until several other passengers began calling to him that there was a wheelchair user waiting to get off the bus. Only then did he deploy the ramp.
When, after alighting, I reminded him that I had pressed the blue buzzer to tell him I would need the ramp, he came up with the excuse that he was 'so busy'. This excuse is not valid. 'Busy' includes doing his job correctly and courteously for ALL his customers, and that includes wheelchair users.