A wheelchair user today shared the "unbearably frustrating" moment a London bus driver refused to let her board.
Katie Pennick, 23, filmed the driver allowing up to eight able-bodied passengers onto the packed bus in north London - while refusing to lower the ramp for her wheelchair.
Ms Pennick, a freelance audio producer, believes it was because two buggies were already on the 253 service as it stopped outside Manor House station on Sunday afternoon.
A 2017 Supreme Court ruling established wheelchair users must be given priority on buses. But Ms Pennick told the Standard she is refused access “multiple times a week”.
“It’s like I am valued less than able-bodied passengers,” she said. “It makes me angry at the world.”
Transport for London (TfL) said it would investigate the incident "immediately".
Ms Pennick, of Stoke Newington, had already been turned away from a 141 service in Newington Green earlier that afternoon.
And the same thing happened when she arrived at Manor House for the second stage of her journey. She said: “I was at the front of the queue and flagged down the bus. As the bus approached, the driver saw me and started shaking his head, which often happens.
“I got my phone out to record what was going to happen. He didn’t put the ramp down and let everyone else on. There was five, six or seven walking people as well as a mother with a buggy. I think there was already another buggy on the bus, which is why he didn’t let me on.
“I asked if he could get the ramp and she said there was no space. I told him wheelchair users get priority – it’s the law – and he point blank denied this.
“He just refused. Another passenger stood next to him was also giving me a lot of talk."
Ms Pennick added: "This happens to me very frequently. It’s either because the driver refuses or the ramp is broken. It happens multiple times a week.
“It causes significant delays, makes me late and is unbearably frustrating. I feel unable to move around in my own city. People have this weird perception that we [wheelchair users] have endless amounts of time. But I have places to be and don’t have the time to be waiting around for buses all day."
Claire Mann, TfL’s director of bus operations, said: "We’re very sorry about Katie Pennick’s experience.
“It is essential wheelchair users are given priority in the allocated area on buses and clearly something has gone wrong here. We will investigate this with the bus company immediately.”
