Lothian Bus driver refused a lady and young baby in a pram to board

Far be it for me to stand up for the rights of women with children but on Thursday I was waiting for a bus into town and when the 16 pulled up, I moved to the side to let the lady and her baby on first.

However, the driver said "does that fold?"

"No" replied the Mum laden with bags of shopping as well.

"You can't come on then" he responded.

After a little bit I also waded in to ask why, I was told the rules clearly state it must be a foldable buggy or a wheelchair in that space.

Now, I knew a wheelchair passenger took priority, I didn't know about the foldable buggy rule and in the two and a half years I have lived in Edinburgh I have seen hundreds of Mums and Dads board buses with buggies/pushchairs and prams that were not folded.

So, I thought I will check out the Lothian Buses website.

3. ACCESSIBLE BUSES

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our buses in safety and comfort. All our buses have a dedicated wheelchair space while some buses also have a space for a buggy.  If there is no wheelchair user on the bus, other passengers including those travelling with a foldable buggy or with bulky luggage may occupy the wheelchair space. Whenever the space is needed by a wheelchair user, other passengers must move to make it available. On those buses which also have a designated buggy space, an unfolded buggy may occupy that space.

Please note that mobility scooters are NOT permitted on our buses.

That is fairly clear, although it doesn't actually mention unfoldable buggies etc.
 
However, the rules go on;
 
8. LUGGAGE

Accompanied luggage is carried at the driver’s discretion and the passenger’s risk. The Company will not be liable for any loss of, or damage to, luggage. Luggage must not be placed on any seat or cause any obstruction.
The following items may NOT be taken onto the Company’s buses:

a) any weapon or explosive or any article which is dangerous, offensive or excessively cumbersome

b) prams

c) bicycles other than folding bicycles which are folded and fully enclosed in a suitable carrying bag

d) non-folding wheelchairs, except where the designated wheelchair space is unoccupied

d) mobility scooters

f) any battery from which corrosive liquid might leak

So, prams are now excluded but an unfoldable pushchair gets no mention, unless Lothian Buses are treating those just as prams.
 
However, what is the actual difference?
 
The pushchair in question would have easily fitted in the allocated space and as the lady in question said, she had got the bus there in the first place, the driver wasn't having any of it.
 
I think Lothian Buses need to review their rules and use a little more discretion.