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The other day I was on a fairly crowded bus. 2 mums got on with buggies, both open, one was carrying her 2+year old son while pushing the buggy. Both buggies were squished into the wheelchair zone, making several standing people move, further along, AND THEN the one carrying the baby accepted the offer of a priority seat from a very OLD LADY! I could not believe my eyes.

PUT THE KID BACK IN THE CHAIR AND STAND!

She sat there for the rest of the trip on her fat arse while the old lady stood, holding the pole.

- Katy Ray, chiswick

The driver was rude but professional. If she was causing a blockage that was potentially dangerous then what did she expect? What if someone banged into her child because it was in the way then she wanted to sue the company? No, I have no sympathy for militant middle class mummies on the rampage. She whines about being forced out into the pouring rain. Why not just wait for the next bus? This is a land of rain, deal with it.

- Dan, London

I don't know why so many of you are defending this woman. There is a certain breed of mother (particularly in London and the Home Counties) who seems to make "I have created child, therefore I have carte blanche to be objectionable to all who cross my path as I choose!" it's mantra. I for one would not be sorry to see such a type thrown from a vehicle (stationary, of course!) Might bring them down a peg or two.

- M Farbiash, Highgate

What a miserable bunch you lot are. I have a four year old and a ten month old. For as long as I can remember now I have chosen walking with a buggy over public transport any day as people are so unhelpful. No, mothers do not expect the seat next to the buggy area, but we're not exactly going to sit at the other end of the bus with our baby by the door, are we? How many times have you actually seen a mother demand an elderly person vacate their seat for this reason?
All pram pushers are after is a little bit of help and consideration when we have to get on a bus. Most of the time we don't choose to. It's not always convenient to take a car and sometimes, just sometimes, we don't fancy a three mile walk home in the rain after (how selfish) we go out to meet a friend, get some groceries or, you know, just get out of the house.

You're the same people who refuse to let a pregnant women have your seat on a bus or train as 'it's their choice to have a baby'.

Where are people's manners today?

- Kw, London

When my children were small I had to take a baby and toddler out of their double buggy and fold the pushchair up and put it into the luggage well. The buses at the time did not have the facility for pushchairs to be kept open. Why did this woman not put the pushchair down and store it.

- Jan, Romford

What a bunch of miserable awkard people you lot are. I have been using the tube, bus and train for the last twenty years and have noticed a serious decline in manners. Many Londoners seem to set out to be as difficult as possible, not letting people past them or movnig down carriages, people stretching their feet out across the isle and not moving them when people want to get past or need to stand in the isle. People thinking that they have a right to put their bag on the seat next to them and tutt when they are asked to move it. There also seems to be a general dislike against children in this country, go to Italy or Spain and they have a very different reaction, they love kids and welcome them. Not like you sorry lot, go and stick you heads back in your newspaper.

- David, London

"the bus only moved when the other mother with a buggy got off"

So this woman "stood her ground" and stayed on the bus, effectively forcing the other woman off into the rain? Oh, well done her.

I agree the bus driver sounds rude and unprofessional, but standing her ground until somebody else made it possible for the bus to move on strikes me as selfish and rude.

- S Hamilton, London

I always imagine that taking any kind of buggy contraption on a bus must be the worst kind of nightmare, but I don't feel sorry for the women who do it because unless they're penniless, benefit-lifestyle chavs (which Lisa Smith does not look or sound to be) then why would they choose to have a child if they do not have access to a car? Whenever I have taken the bus and seen these women get on, they often seem to go only very short distances, leaving me to wonder if all the commotion and difficulty of getting on and off is worth the effort. As a child, my family only had the one car, which my father needed for work, and since we lived in a small village my mother walked everywhere with myself and my three siblings, including through early morning fog, wind and rain. But we didn't feel deprived or hard done by and I'm sure were a lot healthier than a lot of these mothers today who apparently can't even walk a mile or two a day.

- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx

Most London buses are poorly designed and cramped. The leg room is minimal - unless you're an Oompa Loompa, you can forget about having a comfortable journey. I'm 6'3" and always have to sit with my legs sticking out into the aisle. Ridiculous.

- Ben, London

I have no idea what actually went on - but I really don't get the 'feel' that this mother was standing there meekly pleading for consideration. Rather I get the impression she was being quite belligerent in her demands (yes, I could be wrong, but so could those demanding the driver's blood and livelihood).

The angry words come across as a chicken and egg thing to me - the only question being who got the ball rolling.

The driver? He should have been more 'professional' about it all. No question of that - but he's human, remember... we humans are easy to provoke when stressed historically. The mother? She should never have had an impractical buggy and shopping to handle if she knew she was going to use a bus. She was certainly demanding (her right, presumably) to bring an impractical article onto a crowded bus, something the driver had every right to refuse (try reading the notices on all public transport vehicles, if only to while away the journey - it's instructive). She then started complaining, playing the sympathy card when she didn't get her way it seems.

Until I hear something a little more substantive than whining, I've little sympathy for her - these big fancy buggies have more than enough cover for infants, remember, so that is no big issue. It can surely be assumed that the child would have been adequately clothed by the mother for the outing, despite her impractical demands later in the bus.

- Rogan, Irving

Come on! Why are you all assuming that Ms Smith had a huge buggy?

Do you not think that the photographer would have included it in the picture if it was so massive?

And I just checked with TFL, Drivers are legally obliged to carry multiple buggys, even if they do block the exit doors and gangway.

- L, London

@ concerned London. you mentioned about the Should be sacked and the company sued. this is nothing to do with the driver nor the company. its the london transport assembly that encts all the transport rules in London. had that bus had an accident when that woman was on the walkway not the buggy area, then the driver would ve been blamed for having allowed that woman through. in other words, its all about safety and its safety imposed on your transport that kicked her out.

- Kim, London

the buses were designed for small buggies but now anything with wheels e.g. large prams armed with a full weeks shopping hung of the sides and the pram pushers demanding the seat adjacent to the buggy space even forcing elderly and infirm people off the seats.

Answer: buy a small travelling buggy for public transport and if we all respect each other then we will get on fine. Well done the bus driver. When my kids were little I walked everywhere with them and folded the buggy if I need to board a bus for a longer journey.

- Mary, england

As a mum who has a 15 month old and i always ride on the bus with the buggy, i can understand from the woman`s point of view the stress of handling a buggy especially in the rain, but i do not support her decision to put the child at risk by putting the buggy on the alse, what would have worked perfectly was folding the buggy and having the child in her lap, she could have asked for someone to help her hold the child (say her witness) and folded it for safety reasons, hers not other people on the bus. That being said, there was absolutely no reason for him being rude to her, he should have just explained the situation and calmly tell her the risks involved in allowing the her put her buggy on the alse. I agree with the way the driver refused to move because should an accident occur he would have to bear the brunt of driving clearly outside the rules.

- Naomi, london

I travel with a child the same age as Ms Smith, and as I get public transport I invested in a small, fold up buggy (available in a variety of prices). I am well aware that I can't get on if there are 2 other buggies or a wheelchair and have to wait for another bus. If a wheelchair gets on I have to get off. That's the fact of life when you travel with a buggy and most mums get on with it. If the bus looks packed I ask the driver if there's room and if I can get on the back after I beep my card, and most of them are fine about it. I did have a 'tank' type buggy when the baby was small, but in those days I walked everywhere as I didn't think it'd fit on a bus!
The bus driver shouldn't have been as rude as she alleges, but they do have a stressful job, and we've only heard her side of the story. It makes you wonder how huge both prams were if you couldn't fit them both in the space...

- Mel, London

Wendy from London says: "Also what is with women travelling with a buggy with kids who are able to walk? I have seen that during rush hour and all the pram did was hold their bags. Ridiculous".
Oddly enough, little legs get tired very quickly and the buggy is needed at some point in the day. What's ridiculous is thinking you could go out for more than half an hour with a toddler and not have a buggy for when he/she gets tired. Also, oddly enough, sometimes people with buggies have to go places in rush hour. Do you think anyone would go to horrible, pushy, rude London in rush hour if they didn't have to?

- Mph, Essex

Which mother hasn't experienced the ire, frustration, and often just downright bloody mindeness of London bus drivers when travelling with children. One isn't just given a hard time when travelling with a buggy (try folding one up when you have a sleeping 1 year old and a tired 3 year old walker). Very recently I was refused entry onto a bus on the school run with my children (3 of them) with a scooter! It's smaller than a suitcase or large shopping bag, the bus was half full, but still I was told I couldn't board - this was ahead of a buggy pusher - and we stood there in the dark left to make our way on to the following bus where we stood the same unacceptable challenge. We are encouraged by the schools our children attend to take transport other than the car, but frankly when one is treated so appallingly by the operators of on-the-ground public transport, which is the obvious choice when all you need to do is get home to feed your kids at a reasonable hour? Prorities in public transport, and how the operatives take care of them, need addressing - that the bus fills up with free transport riding tweenies who F and blind in front of small children is completely unaccetable, but they certainly seem to be whom we share our journey with most frequently.

- Sally O, London

Get a smaller pram, then everybody will be able to get on and off the bus instead of being blocked in by your pram.

- Pat, Essex

Yes, there are some very bad-tempered drivers in London busses. There was no need for him to be so rude. He could have helped or nicely requested that she wait for the next bus. I am sorry for the passenger.
I don't understand these comments attacking her.

- Sidney Marks, London, UK

Oh dear, have I hit a nerve, Concerned?

I never suggested the driver wasn't acting unprofessionally, I was merely suggesting that had this woman had a fold-up buggy the situation never would've arisen because she wouldn't have required the buggy space that was already occupied.

And, no, my mother didn't drop me on my head during the bus journeys. In fact, she talked to me; I practiced my reading and speech (with the shop names and place names); I learnt to interact with a different environment and with different people (we used to meet the same lady, Mrs. Abraham, almost every week on the way to the shops and still know her 20 years later).

But I'm sure I would've been much better off strapped into my pushchair staring at a blank wall, like most of the toddlers I see consigned to their buggy on the bus these days. No wonder they all tend to be screaming their heads off in protest!

- Michael, London

That's a chunky little boy who should be in a pushchair which can easily be carried under arm......why is she still using a buggy/pram?

- Richard, London

If mothers insists on buying buggies the size of JCB's then they have nothing to complain about. Since when did a two year old child need that amount of space.

- James Hennessy, Manchester London

These responses show just how much the British hate children, and how infantile and self-absorbed our society has become. Children and young people are a part of society, and have just as much right to exist, and to be treated fairly, as self-important singletons and kidults. If older people were treated to the kind of discrimination children routinely are, there would be an outcry. Why is it acceptable to say that you hate children, but not old people, gay people, etc? Funny how London Underground and buses are happy to take parents' money, but not prepared to put in lifts and/or ramps in tube stations, or treat those with buggies attempting to use the buggies with any respect. I hope that some of the idiots who've posted nasty comments have kids someday, so they can feel what it's like to be treated like a leper. It will serve them right. And by the way, Amber - have you ever tried to fold up a buggy containing a sleeping baby? No one will help you by holding the baby, and the child will proceed to scream for the rest of the journey because it has been woken up prematurely - thereby causing much more nuisance than if it had been left alone to sleep. Think before you write drivel.

- Lindsay, London

It all depends on the situation doesnt it, but I think that the driver could certainly have been a tad more diplomatic and professional in his approach.

- Mark Shaun Breen, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England

I remember a long time ago on a Route Master that had a 3 bench seat on each side as you boarded.I was seated on one side with 2 women. On the other side was a very very large woman. At one stop 3 ladies got on, before I could say or do anything Fattie,looking at me spoke loudly, "If you were a gentleman you would offer one of the ladies a seat". I replied "Correct, but if you got up all three could sit down" at least the bus burst into laughter. What about these days? Would I be arrested?

- Macdangler, Wimbledon SW19

the driver allowed the lady and her child on the bus. If there was no space he shouldn't have allowed them on and taken their fare, he could have poilitely suggested she wait for the next bus instead off humiliating her in front of the other passengers. Some of the comments here are shocking especially Amber, kellie etc, really bad attitude towards fellow humans. how do you know she had an oversized buggy? People should help mums get around london not discriminate against them. I've been on busses where passengers are being harassed by groups of kids, and drivers are being insulted but they don't get asked to get of the bus a mum with a child is an easy target.

- Kim, london

I am a bus driver and I always let all the good looking mothers get on with their buggies even if the bus is full. This girl is gorgeous so she would have no problem with me!

- Ris, London

there is no excuse for this sort of behaviour from a bus driver, and for those peculiar sorts who think otherwise, well there is no helping you I suspect.

- Scotty, London

The design spec for these buggies can no way be accomodated on our buses the buggies are like tractors snapping at veryone's heals and never folded up

- Jeanette, London

Well Michael from London, it's a pitty that your Mother did not take you up to the top deck and dropped you on your stupid little Head you cretin. The Bus Driver is supposed to be a Professional Driver and also have Customer Care skills, obviously this in not the case with this driver, Humiliate him and sack him. And also Sue the Bus Company.

- Concerned, london

The comments here are so harsh I feel. Sums up London's mentality.

- Lias, Soho

"have you ever tried to juggle a buggy, try to collapse it whilst holding a toddler and probably various bags - I doubt it !" Donna, London

Funnily enough, I regularly did so while juggling three young children differing in ages by just 5 years.

But then again, I was a young mother in an era before there was a specific space reserved for prams so I had to think on my feet and make do. Sometimes I'd ask a complete stranger to help my daughter hop up onto the bus and take her seat, and the conductor or another passenger would help me lift my pushchair onto the bus, where I would fold it down, stow it and sit and interact with my children. I would do exactly the same in reverse when getting off the bus.

It seems to me that these days that sense of determination to make do has disappeared and everybody wants everything handed to them on a plate. But, more importantly that sense of community has been eroded and the idea of allowing a stranger to help your young child onto the bus would be entirely alien. And instead of having a conductor to help struggling passengers and provide a sense of authority on the bus, we now have the drivers devoid of responsibility, sat behind bulletproof glass.

Has this country really descended that far that there is no community spirit and everybody, including these young mothers, is just looking out for themselves and damn anybody else?!

- Christine, Tooting, London

"Just as my father, who is nearly 80, glumly told me on the tube that only young black women offer him their seat"

Well I'm male and white and I've given up my site twice to the elderly in the past week. I think your father's experiences are atypical.

- Richard, London

@ Donna, London

That's such a typically patronising response. Just because someone is critical of a situation doesn't mean they haven't personally experienced it.

When I used to take my son on the bus I survived because I always thought ahead. I never tried to carry too much, I'd fold down the buggy and prepare to board even before the bus had arrived and if I was ever struggling I would never be too proud to ask for help. Parents are not the only people to have ever had to do two things at once.

The problem these days is that young parents take the advantages they are offered, like the buggy spaces, for granted. So, they load up on their shopping, use a buggy that is wholly impractical and expect a space to be reserved on the bus for them.

I feel that the provision of these spaces for buggies has actually been more divisive than helpful and has promoted resentment from other passengers. Parents are no longer expected to take responsibility for their own actions, think ahead or take into account the rights of other passengers. They're no longer required to engage with the driver or other passengers upon boarding the bus, but rather just barge through to their reserved space.

All sympathy that people have for parents is being sapped away because the buggy spaces encourage a two tier system of passengers, one seemingly taking preference over the other. It's these sorts of divisive initiatives that are undermining social responsibility and ruining this country.

- Steven, London

There is no need to get so aggresive. I don't take the bus anymore as I'm fed up of it. Or you get aggresive unhelpful drivers or aggresive teenagers who don't want to pay the fare so the bus doesn't move until they do or get off. Regarding buggies,if you are going to take the bus regularly have an umbrella buggy and fold it beforehand, saves the hastle of having to wait another half hour if the bus is full. It's an absoulte pain when you have a little one but it's better than missing getting on the bus.

- Emma, New Malden

Good for the driver.Nothing is supposed to obstruct the
doors and gangways regardless of how full the bus is.
I'm fed up with buses used as personal removal vans with huge buggies,cases,great shopping trolleys etc.taking
precedence.Buses are for passengers not freight.

- Slater, K-O-T UK

I have huge sympathy for Ms Smith. Amber, ever tried to fold a pram with a baby in your arms and a bus lurching off?

I am glad that my two are finally big enough to go out without the buggy, and I can use public transport again. It's an unmitigated nightmare because yes, the buses are not designed to take buggies because of course young children are not supposed to go anywhere and families are not citizens deserving of equal access to necessary public services like transport.

I gave up taking the bus to school when my younger son was six months old. He was asleep in the buggy, and my (then) four year old got on the bus ahead of me. The bus was not crowded but the driver refused to let me on. He slammed the door, and drove off, knowing he had my three year old still on the bus. I screamed at him to stop, and other passengers shouted at him to stop, but he just shouted at them to shut up. I had to run to the next stop, and another passenger had to get off to try and comfort my frantic, panicked son until I caught up.

I wrote to everyone from my MP to the CEO of the bus company. The driver got a reprimand.

From what I am reading here, some people seem to think I got what I deserved for daring to go out with a (folding) pram and a sleeping child.

- Jonesmum, London, UK

If she can get on the bus, she can BE on the bus. All this garbage about buggy space and that, - doesn't matter. Imagine if they kicked off all the 'heavy' people who take up more than "one space."

- Trunk, US

The 139 route Buses, tend to run two at a time along that route, each bus seems to be holding hands with each other, one following the other in case they get lost etc.

The drivers tend to be foreigners, with heavy feet when it comes to braking or stopping; they like to throw the passengers all over their buses etc, and this spreads the load of people out more evenly on the bus etc.

You can’t blame the Bus Drivers; as they are not trained anymore by the likes of London Transport at Chiswick etc, To-day; if you can breath, you can drive a Bus.

Likewise; you never see Bus Inspectors anymore; and this allows the drivers, and the public to do as they please on London Transport etc; and that is why the 139 buses run in pairs, and not spaced out, like in the London Transports Days of old etc.

You have Privatised London Transport now; and they tell me that it is more efficient than the old Nationalised London Transport System; although I know of no London Bus Driver today; that has ever taken the higher standards of PSV driving tests older Bus drivers took years ago, and none today has been tested on Bus Skid Pans, like the Chiswick Bus Driver Training Depot had etc.

Like most things today; Quality is down, but profits are up?

Some-how I liked the 20th century; it was far more human and intelligent than the 21st century, but that is in my opinion, yours may differ greatly?

- Mickinlondon, london

I think the comment by "Sid, London, UK" & "Anon, uk" should be taken seriously. Doing the lady a favour and allowing her to stay on the bus cuts no ice with those in authority...{police and management}...if there is an accident. I remember a case where drivers for a certain bus company drove over there allowed hours, as per the the law, due to rostering...Guess who got into trouble and fined...Yeah, not the company. The driver is in sole charge of the bus...and the buck stops with him.

- Mark H, London, England

If you ever have cause to ask for the driver's name and he refuses, get the bus's registration number instead. (Should the garage claims not to know who was driving it, involve the police - it's a public service vehicle and so they have a duty to know).

That said, the driver here was being a stroppy jobsworth but is probably in the right, at least legally. Health and safety strikes again - you aren't allowed to have a buggy elsewhere in the bus, because it might block the exit route for other passengers were the bus to crash. If the bus were crowded, that's a real concern.

Suggestion to mothers - why not go back to those lightweight folding buggies rather than the curently fashionable equivalent of a 4WD with "chav" written all over it? Then if there isn't space, you have the option of folding the buggy into the luggage area or another seat, and carrying your baby.

- Nigel, London

If the driver was rude - he should apologise - if he was just doing his job to ensure the safety of his passengers then this woman should devise a way she can transport her child without creating a hazard. There is space at the front of the bus for a folded pushchair!

It never ceases to amaze me how often mothers do block aisles and doorways with their pushchairs. I recently was shocked to witness a woman on the eastbound 56 bus refuse to move her pushchair to allow a wheelchair user to gain access. The driver very politely asked her to take her baby out of the pushchair and fold the pushchair so the wheelchair user could access the bus. This woman very loudly and continously refused to budge despite the driver refusing to move the bus. The only reason the situation was resolved was because another 56 bus came along and the wheelchair user got on. The driver of our very reluctantly continued the journey and very firmly told the woman that had another bus not come along he would actually have made her get off. He had the support of most (and possibly all) of the other passengers!

- Andy, london

Everyone can join her by walking in the rain now because there's going to be a strike. I'm still struggling to understand how able-bodied people can justify ranting that a woman who needs help with a very small future tax-payer (who will have to work to pay off the massive national debt incurred paying for their pension and healthcare) should get off the bus and walk, when they themselves are not walking. In trouble if their children are let loose; in trouble if they're ensconced in a push-chair with the shopping; in trouble if they drive their children from A to B on short journeys polluting the planet and in trouble if they take public transport. I can only assume the aggressive attitude is to excuse themselves from doing what they OUGHT to do which is to leap up (possibly interrupting their own mobile phone conversation) and give the poor woman a hand - offer to hold her child or her shopping, or give up their own seat for the child whilst she folds up the pushchair (which is a big operation and would therefore delay the bus longer than 'parking' it): these are the social norms on the rest of the planet. Really, people in Britain should have a little more respect for young members of society - as they once were themselves - and for older members of society - which they soon shall be, and generally for anyone less able than themselves: one day your turn to need help will come.

- Roz, France

While we are on the subject what happened to young children sitting on their parents lap so an adult can sit down. I had to and children I used to take used to sit on my wife's or my lap.

- Kim Lovell, Newham, London

"I pay £116 per month to take the London transport"

Doudoupa, london

I pay £451 per month to travel within London every month and I dont understand why parents with kids opt to travel at peak times.

I take the train and then the bus into London every day. There are spaces for buggies, and when those are full, there isn't room for another buggy. Everybody else seems to understand this rule; I've never come across another buggy user who takes it upon herself to hold the bus and passengers to ransome in order to demand that she gets the space she wants. Commuting it stressful enough without fellow passengers like her. I only hope she doesn't get on a bus near me soon.
The same rule applys to bikes - they take no notice either. I also think if you wish to travel with a bike or pram you should pay a premium for the space you take up!

- Caz, a

Just a second I bet the driver has a different story to tell. If he allowed the buggy to sit outside the designated area and your infirm relative tripped over it and hit the floor that too would be the driver's fault. No win as usual.

- Mark, Bournemouth

Errr, HALLO! How many people have read this article before jumping in with their two bob's worth?

"she should be aware that when it rains over here public transport gets rather full" - there were FIVE people on the bus, Jacqui!

"It is so annoying that people expect that they can get on with their 10 kids, large packages, 4 suitcases or whatever." - Not just a stupid comment, Kellie, but best of luck finding a taxi to take 10!

- Paul, London

She should have a fold up pram and during rush hours all prams ought to be required to be folded up before they get on buses - if there is not enough room she cannot travel and will have to wait for the next bus. If there is not enough room in the designated areas to travel then she has to wait for the next bus.

Also what is with women travelling with a buggy with kids who are able to walk? I have seen that during rush hour and all the pram did was hold their bags. Ridiculous

- Wendy, London

Interesting comments on here, the venom towards a mother with a buggy trying to get a service that she’s paid for, very telling. Forget the fact that we have all experienced bus drivers who think they are a law unto themselves. I have had so many experiences of bus drivers treating people like crap. Yes there are rules that drivers have to adhere to but that does not give the driver the right to shout at or belittle their passenger, It’s called customer service. What would the driver have done if someone in a wheel chair boarded the bus and there was already 2 other wheel chair user using the wheel chair space. Would it have been alright if the driver bawled at them? There are ways of dealing with such situations but I guess we get the transport system we disserve; miserable and selfish passengers being driven round by miserable and selfish drivers

- Andi, birmingham

Sounds like there will be some chaos on route 38 from this Saturday when Boris replaces the perfectly good Artic buses (at a cost of an addional £3 million) with double deckers which have no room inside.

In fact 47 Artics will be replaced by 72 Double Deck buses but in terms of space for prams and wheelchairs there will be a big reduction in capacity given that artics have 2 large open areas.

While as for fare dodging well Artic buses have validators which mothers can use when entering via middle or back doors while on double deckers no validators are provided at centre doors meaning mothers with prams have to enter via the front door.

The situation is made worse on double seck buses by the number of lazy people who insist on standing in the narrow area between the front door and stairs and who then complain when someone treads on their feet. Well looks like prams will be running over them from Saturday on the 38 buses.

It would actually make sense to install validators next to centre doors and then no one would have a valid excuse for not having paid. The fact is many passengers enbter via the centre doors without paying but the nonsence has been directed at Artic buses which at least have validators. Those who do not use them normally have paper tickets and until Oyster becomes the norm there will be many passengers who cant use validators!!!

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

Any decent Bus Driver, or fellow passenger would have offered to help her, i'm sure the buggy could have been accommodated had some common sense been applied! I would certainly rather be kept off the bus by a mother and her baby, than the youth with free bus passes, that i frequently come across, shouting, swearing and generally being intimadating to everyone! Time the mayor reversed Ken's decision to give free transport to them!!!

- Daniel, London

If mums want to use 4x4 prams, perhaps the buses could be adapted so that they could be attached to the back and run along the road behind the bus. Like all the best solutions, its a simple idea but it would work.

- Peace Maker, Battersea

Oh my good grief!! - the ignorance of some people commenting on this story is beyond belief!!

Kellie USA, Amber, Adam, Triffid, Michael - what is wrong with you people (apart from your obvious prejudice and apparent inability to read??) All too busy asserting your rights over and above another's rights without giving any thought to the practicalities of travelling around London with a small child.

Shame on you all, but your ignorance only leads me to pity your lack of a social and moral compass!

- Paddy, London

What an awful way to bring up a child thinking that taking a bus is the social norm. Public transport is a horrible demeaning experience and I would suggest the mother uses a car to keep her child safe and away from these aggressive badly behaved people.

- Kimberley, London

I agree, fold the buggy up and stand with the child or put the child on your lap. if the bus is full, the bus is full - who cares if it was raining

- Rnf, London

I have to agree with a lot of the comments about people with buggies forcing their way onto buses most of my commute is by bus and buggy users do seem to think it is their right to push through an already overcrowded bus forcing other passengers to move into non existent space for them - there is one particular person that gets on two stops after me each morning with a huge buggy plus kids and will force her way through the crowds to go two stops to the local school!. The space is for wheelchair users and I have also seen wheelchair users denied the right to travel due to people with buggies taking up the space. I also frequently see buggy users ignoring the bus driver telling them they can't get on and getting on through the back of the bus and then blocking the passageway meaning that no-one can get off!
Having said all that it does seem that there seems to be no thought given in the design of buses to accomodate one or two buggies - its easy to say fold them up but realistically not always possible, and of course this does not excuse the way in which this lady was spoken to by the bus driver - I think we have all been victim of power tripping got out of bed thw wrong side London bus drivers - and yes I know they have to deal with rude people all the time, but honestly I think had he explained all of this in a nicer way perhaps she would have been a little more understanding.

- Pearl, London

Maybe now she'll have the good sense to invest in a fold-up buggy so that she can get on any bus, any time. I, too, am sick of these mothers and their buggies that are more akin to tanks thinking that they automatically deserve preferential treatment to everybody else.

When I was little, my mother used to fold up the buggy and take me up to the top deck where I could look out of the window at the world and bus journeys were fun. These days the young mothers just leave their kids in the buggy staring at the wall while they talk to their friends or shout on their mobile.

I pity these children whose mothers are more bothered about looking fashionable with their tank-like buggy, rather than being practical or engaging with their children during the journey.

- Michael, London

I don't understand the selfhiness of people living in this country.
As a mum, I have experienced being told to get off the bus as my pushchair was a hazard! I pay £116 per month to take the London transport and I think that I deserve as much as anyboby else a place in the bus and last and not least these rude bus drivers wouldn't be in their job without us.

- Doudoupa, london

Well she should be aware that when it rains over here public transport gets rather full. The driver was right to tell her to leave, as she is holding up the service & not allowing other passengers the right to board the bus too. If her pram could not fit into the space, she could either fold it or have to wait for another bus.

- Jacqui, London

The memories of the chilling rain of last winter, when I often had to miss 3 buses in succession with a 1.5 hour wait (for what should have been a bus serving every 5-7 minutes) with a tired pre-toddler and unhelpful bus drivers/passengers was the reason I now pay for a parking space and take my car to/from the nursery. I did try walking the 3 miles each way but in colder weather it just wasn't practical to do so. I don't mind public transport for myself, and only got a driving license in my 30's, but the situation is different when you have a child.

On the flip side, when parents take their cars to/from school then people moan about causing traffic and pollution. However, such comments are easier to ignore in the warmth of a car stuck in traffic than standing in a cold non existent bus shelter. I feel sorry for this woman as its not always easy to fold the buggy down and try and handle a toddler.

I thought the LT motto was 'A little consideration, a big help to everyone' Perhaps the driver hasn't read this?

- Smb, London, UK

The driver was correct and she should have got off when she saw the buggy space was already taken. I've heard the rants some these women start so totally sympathise with the driver who probably only lost his temper because of rudeness to him.

- Richard, London

I cannot believe the nasty comments being made on here about the mother and mothers in general - people should read the whole item before jumping to conclusions - the bus was NOT full, there were only 5 people on it, have you ever tried to juggle a buggy, try to collapse it whilst holding a toddler and probably various bags - I doubt it ! the fact of the matter is that this bus driver was rude and power mad - the bus wasnt full and she wasnt holding it "to ransom" no wonder this couontry is in the state it is ! you people make me sick with your attiitudes !! get a bit of compassion in your lives !

- Donna, London

I was in the London last week and I was appalled at the level of aggression in public spaces. Sure everyone has a job to do - that's no excuse to do it rudely. Just like it's aggressive and irrelevent to assume that all mothers are rude, have 'big bums' and haven't paid to ride on the bus. Just as my father, who is nearly 80, glumly told me on the tube that only young black women offer him their seat, just like the Orwellian announcements on the airport tannoy that passengers late for flight xxxx WILL have their luggage identified and it WILL be offloaded unless they arrive at the gate NOW! (ACHTUNG!) interspersed with messages that anything left unattended for even a few minutes WILL be DESTROYED! (That one really impressed my 6 year old.) If that's the level of interaction people kick-off with when dealing with harmless strangers it's hardly surprising that kids in gangs have so little respect for their communities, themselves or each other. There is a basic hypocritical assumption that the other person is about to be aggressive so you might as well get your aggression in first to stave them off. It costs nothing to be pleasant and makes everyone's life pleasanter: seeing the UK in snapshots, it makes me very sad to see how it deteriorates - if someone was rude, does that justify me going home and kicking the cat?

I suggest TFL takes inspiration from the Science Museum, which provides wonderfully smiling, helpful, courteous staff . . . for free!

- Roz, France

James, London

Agreed

- David, London

Goodness me what bunch of well IDUNNO you lot who complain about those poor mums with buggies should come out to my bus route area in Bulgaria and see what passengers bring on board , and the drivers here are the most obliging I have seen , it seems its pandemic in the UK for non stop complaining Im glad I left your miserable country , Andrew Davies , Veliko Turnovo {22.c today here }

- Andrew Davies, Veliko Turnovo

Yes, bus drivers can be miserable, but where does it stop with these range rover type buggys. It isn't a right to be able to roll on the bus with a buggy which resembles a small tank. Miss Smiths kid is a toddler who should be in a light weight stroller, which can be folded. I never had a problem getting on a bus with my kid years ago, having to fold a buggy complete with shopping. Or I used to walk, which kept me fit.

- Triffidqueen, Desk in London

I agree with Amber - most of the time women with buggies the size of 4x4s seem to think that the other passengers are a nuisance and that it is their god-given right to ram their huge buggies (which are often in use by a child who is clearly old enough stand/walk) over the feet of all other passengers. The reason they can't fold them? They are usually crammed full of shopping so they can't. Very often they don't swipe (on bendies) I suppose they think it should be free! The other day I saw a wheelchair user refused access to a half empty 38 because it had 5 buggies on board - did any of them get off/fold the buggy? Of course not. On double deckers they get on the middle doors (and often don't pay) and if the bus is full they barge their way through regardless leaving paying commuters unable to board and taking up the space of at least 5 people. Good for the bus driver, wish more of them would make a stand.

- Lewis, London

Though the driver should not have been rude it was only due to the other mother getting off the bus was she allowed to stay on.

There is normally only room for one buggy - could she not have taken the child out of the buggy and put the buggy to one side? If a person gets on the bus in a wheelchair they would have taken prioriety over the buggy as well.

I would be more upset that i was made to get off due to this womans refusel to act accordingly.

- Rachroo, London

Amber, your a right charmer bet you a bundle of joy to be around. This is probably why London get such a bad name, no one looking out for anyone anymore. People not prepapred to help but very quick to have an opinion.

- James, London

I understand the issues resulting out of mothers not folding their buggies away on the lower deck but there is no need for bad manners or even threatening behaviour , too many drivers act as if they are doing a favor to the public by driving a bus , they are providing a service , which their wages result out of what we pay , maybe they need to understand that and may i add LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH.

- Adam, London

I have to say, good for him.
It is so annoying that people expect that they can get on with their 10 kids, large packages, 4 suitcases or whatever.
That is what a taxi is for, or better yet-a car!!!
Public transport is for more than just one person per bus. If you need that much room, you arent meant to be on the bus.

- Kellie, USA

Back in the day you had to fold your buggy before getting on a bus and try to juggle 2 kids and a baby at the same time. These huge contraptions can take up a lot of room and I've come across a lot of parents that will just run your foot over while trying to get on and off the bus!!! I'm no tyrant but the bus is for everyone to use and no one should have a better priviledge.

- Aria, South London

Nasty man with a nasty attitude. I hope he is the exception rather than the rule . . . . . . ?

- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands

I take the bus in London every day. There are spaces for buggies, and when those are full, there isn't room for another buggy. Everybody else seems to understand this rule; I've never come across another buggy user who takes it upon herself to hold the bus and passengers to ransome in order to demand that she gets the space she wants. Commuting it stressful enough without fellow passengers like her. I only hope she doesn't get on a bus near me soon.

- Susan, London

I was told to get off a bus in the Old Kent Road the other week because I was carrying a 5ft length of plastic conduit (the type telephone cable runs in ) which I'd just bought from B&Q. It was wrapped in plastic and I was holding it upright.

The driver told me in avery bad tempered way it was dangerous. I think the other passengers were surprised at his comments and indeed attitude.

I got off his bus and got on the next one, no problem. I think the first driver was on a power trip or just fed up and wanting to take it out on someone.

- Pete London, London, UK

GOOD. I am sick and tired of mothers taking up ALL the room on the lower deck of the bus, as if it is their god given right, whilst glaring at anyone who has paid for the privilige of travelling if they dare to accidentially trip and slightly knock one of the buggys. if there isn't any room, them it is simple, FOLD YOUR BUGGY UP if you want to stay on the bus. The best is when they get on with their kids, take up all the space where the buggys and wheelchairs go, take their children out of the buggy and they take up all the available seats left with their big bottoms and various offspring. the rule actually is when the bus is busy, there is not meant to be ANY unfolded buggys on the bus. ENOUGH

- Amber, london, england

As a london bus driver myself, there are no space reserved on a bus for buggys. Its a wheelchair space and it may be used by buggys when not in use. Unfolded buggys are not allowed to be carried anywhere else on the bus. This is illegal under the Road Traffic Act. Read up on construction and use. The driver would find himself in all sorts of trouble in an event of an accident.

- Sid, London, UK

Perhaps this bus driver was just doing his job as he has been trained to do. Would he get so much flak, or even more, if there had been an accident and passengers hurt. Then it would have been his fault that there was no room for another buggy and he was driving dangerously. There is always 2 sides to a story but the Brits are so, so, eager to put the blame on someone.

- Anon, uk

This is a very poor attitude by the bus driver and there is no excuse for rudeness, but it works boths ways, as a person who regularly travels on a bus with a buggy and two toddlers I will wait for the next bus if the buggy / wheelchair space is occupied or fold up the buggy. Most bus drivers tell me if the space is full before getting on the bus.

- David, London

Just another low life serving the community.
Its good to see that the London Olympic spirit and all that has filtered its way down to the Buses.

- Mr S.Port, London

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