The most stupid thing I have seen...

[Tetchytyke]

Very good points, but do you have to ask for permission to get off a train? The people getting off (regardless of mobility issues) should always be given time and space to get off, by those who are waiting to get on.

All very true, but that doesn't excuse running your chair full pelt into a crowd of people (not that it sounds like the person in the OP did this, but you get my point).

Your argument is that he should simply travel about on the train until someone deigns to unload him or he is able to beg assistance fomr passers by.

And it is this attitude that causes the most problems for people with mobility problems.

The most recent survey about Passenger Assist is from Transport Focus in 2014. They found that 20% of people booking through Passenger Assist had no help from staff when getting off (5% either having to do it alone or get overcarried), 9% had no help getting on, and a shocking 35% of people arrived at the station to find staff not expecting them.

http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/ne...oving-assistance-for-disabled-rail-passengers

 

[Bookd]

Touching on this subject people do try to be helpful when they can. Recently I was on the last Waterloo - Reading, completely rammed 4 coaches, when a wheelchair user wished to board and had a ramp provided at Waterloo. He explained that this was the designated space; signs say that the 3 tip up seats should be vacated for a wheelchair but that would not have helped as about 20 people were crammed in the vestibule. Nevertheless everyone squeezed up to make room for him. He was leaving at my (unmanned) station - I left quickly to catch a bus but two big lads were trying to attract the guard's attention and would probably have lifted him off if need be.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

we don't know that he didn't warn people, or ask for his help- all we've got is an anecdote from someone, who might not have been close enough to hear warnings

Is a few inches close enough? I am one of those who had to jump out of the way to avoid being clobbered by him.

He certainly never shouted a warning; he just emerged from the doorway and landed on the platform.

It is quite shocking how many anti disabled people there are on this forum! Most inconsiderate.

This is not being anti-disabled; this is being anti-behaving dangerously. Being disabled does not entitle someone to behave like a cross between Evel Enievel and Bernard Montgomery.

 

[bb21]

Your argument is that he should simply travel about on the train until someone deigns to unload him or he is able to beg assistance fomr passers by. Many people who find themselves confined to a wheelchair want to demonstrate that they are independent and are not governed by their chair and can lead the same kind of lives as able bodied people.

btw - superbly condescending attitude. I salute you

Erm, no.

If you read my other posts you will know that I said he should give people warnings and not just launch himself into them, not that he should wait until assistance arrives or not get off. Big difference.

He may have, but this is not what the OP said, and we only have the OP's account. No reason why we cannot comment on the behaviour described by the OP.

As for being condescending, I assume that you mean my remark on learning difficulties. This is all about managing risks for the person, exactly because (in part) they are not immune from claims if they injure another person, but I digress. Without knowing the person involved in this particular incident, it is just a possibility, but the apparent lack of judgement (as described by the OP) means this is a reasonable possibility to consider.

If that makes me condescending to you, then so be it.

I find some of the self-righteous attitudes on this thread (not from you) quite amusing. Other people are criticising the person's behaviour so they must be judgemental and do not understand the needs and difficulties faced by someone in a wheelchair. What a big assumption that is.

 

[Wolfie]

I think it'll be deeply unfair if he's charged because he needs a chair, when able bodied people could get away with also jumping off the train. Charging him would be nasty and mean at someone only because they are disabled. Anti-disabled is a serious problem in the UK and my old Mum has faced alot more hassle when travelling as a result. When she's at the far platform at Nottingham there's only me to help her off the train, and to push her all the way to the inconvient lifts, and the ticket barriers are very annoying too. The trains were built as unsuitable for the disabled, the staff never turn up to help, it's embarrassing for wheelchair users being treated as nothing more than luggage.

If I was in this guys situation I'd jump off the train, if someone gets hurt it's their fault. On buses you'd let people off before jamming round the door, but impatient train passengers show no manners to those of lower mobillity, and it's they who should be charged for creating an obstruction.

my bold

Utter rubbish!

I have been involved in handling three Public Inquiries, in excess of 200 applications for judicial review and literally thousands of personal injury claims made against a Govt Dept and I can tell you now that anyone (able bodied or disabled) who just throws themself off a train onto a platform while disregarding the safety of others on the platform and causes injury WILL, based on my experience of the Courts, find themselves a minimum four figure sum worse off after civil litigation (not to mention having some horrendous legal bills). The fact that a wheelchair user will likely do more damage will merely increase the level of damages awarded.

Indeed there is potential for such an individual to face criminal charges, up to and including in the worst case scenario manslaughter, too.

 

[AnonymousUser1]

Endangering the safety of the railway - or at least that of the passengers he jumped out into the middle of with no warning. He nearly skittled half a dozen people. This isn't like having someone step off the train as the crowd walks past; this is a high mass, high momentum projectile on wheels landing in the middle of them.

i suspect you would have an apoplexy if i inked you to some videos showing that paraplegia / spina bifida are no bar to having fun on a skate park / BMX ramp ...

' high mass' - hardly - the kind of lightweght chair you;d need to carry this off weights no more than a modern racing bike ( i.e. square root of eff-all )

high momentum - no more than a person 'barging off a train '


i think you need to apply a little bit of sensible thought
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Instead of just launching themselves off with no warning because the ramp had not turned up and I am pretty sure had the person made a general request to those around, there would have been no shortage of volunteers to help them off. Despite what is often said about people not helping each, I see every day acts of kindness on public transport such as this would be.

an active and physical fit wheelchair user in a lightweight chair would not require 'assistance' if the ramp is not provided ... kerb jumping is one of the skills that a lot of wheelchair users who are fit and are wheelcahir users due to e.g. paraplefgia or spina bifida can and will do ( and go on skate parks etc)
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One of my sons is in a wheelchair and if he did this sort of thing he would be a complete idiot and deserve everything he got.

I can't understand posters agreeing with it.

apologies for prying , what condition led to your lad being a chair user and what kind of chair does he have ?

as for what some wheelchair users can do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUUVfPy0UgI (aaron who features in that video has spina bifidia)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

It is quite shocking how many anti disabled people there are on this forum! Most inconsiderate.

more the assumption that any wheelchair user is a drooling incompetent that can;t function independently without the care and support of others ...

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I suspect you would have an apoplexy if I linked you to some videos showing that paraplegia / spina bifida are no bar to having fun on a skate park / BMX ramp ...

No I wouldn't have an apoplexy.

For a start those actibities are being done in an area designed for it where everyone present is fully aware of what is going to happen and the skate park / BMX ramps are not full of commuters walking past.

 

[Tetchytyke]

high momentum - no more than a person 'barging off a train '

Spot on. I bet I could do as much damage should I choose to properly shoulder charge the next halfwit who barges on to the Metro when I'm still getting off it.