Disabled woman 'made to feel like a pest' and missed out on crucial medical care due to London bus ramp fault

A disabled woman says she has been "made to feel like a pest to society" and missed out on crucial medical care due to a fault with the ramps on multiple London bus routes. Jessica has lodged countless complaints about a glitch affecting the ramps on several of Transport for London' s new electric buses, but to little avail. The issue, which she first encountered last year, means the automatic ramps get stuck halfway instead of fully extending, preventing her from getting on or off the bus.

She says the problem occurs "around 60% of the time" she takes the bus, usually the 263 or 210 routes. The glitch also stops the doors from being able to close, meaning the bus has to be taken out of service. Read more: ‘The system is broken’: Wheelchair user slams train company after he was trapped in carriage as hundreds complain about accessibility issues Read more: ‘I don’t want special treatment’: Campaign calls for end to 'punishing' savings cap for disabled people "Sometimes drivers will physically try to force the door shut, which doesn't tend to work.

Usually they have to turn the bus on and off and reset the electrics, which takes around 10 minutes and delays the journey for everyone - and that doesn’t always work.” Recently, the 30-year-old from north London had to be carried off the bus in her wheelchair after the ramp became stuck halfway. "The driver had to put the bus out of service because the doors wouldn't shut. It meant I couldn't wheel off, so he had to carry me off the bus in my chair.”

Jessica says that even though she knows "rationally" when this happens that it is not her fault, she still finds herself "being quite apologetic, and feeling as though it's my responsibility that everyone is delayed". "It reinforces this feeling about disabled individuals being a pest. It makes me feel like I’m an inconvenience to society.” Jessica, who works from home but uses the bus several times a week to get to medical appointments and social occasions, says she now avoids leaving the house when possible because of the hassle.

The problem has also led her to miss or be late for several medical and physiotherapy appointments. The other transport options available to her aren’t much better. Her local tube station lacks a lift and also requires a bus journey to reach. "I avoid the tube at all costs, especially if you don't get that space where you can put the backrest against the plastic wall, because there are times that you don't have long to get into position, and if the train moves and you're not in position, your chair will flip backwards...

It's dangerous." She adds that Dial A Ride is "always booked up", while taxis aren’t a financially affordable option either. Both also require a level of forward-planning at least a day in advance, which isn't always possible. She said she’s "lost count” of how many times she has reported the glitch to TFL. “They normally say, ’ We’ll get back to you', and then enough time passes and I haven’t heard back.” More than 2,000 of TFL's buses are fully electric - up from 30 in 2016.

The expansion of the electric bus fleet forms part of the Mayor of London's ambition to fully decarbonise the public transport network by 2030. A spokesperson for Transport for London said Jessica's experiences had "fallen well short of what she should expect." "We recognise that being unable to use buses freely and easily can have a significant impact on a person's independence and confidence when using public transport. "The operator Metroline has identified an issue with the ramps on some buses and has undertaken a programme to rectify the fault.

"We are speaking to Jessica to get more detail on the specific incidents and understand where any further work may need to be carried out." A Metroline spokesperson said: “Metroline is committed to providing an accessible, safe and reliable service, and we take any issue affecting wheelchair users extremely seriously. We identified a fault affecting the ramps on some of our buses earlier this year and began a programme of inspection and rectification which we have rolled out and now completed across our Electroliner fleet.

"Since we finished this programme, we have not identified evidence of a fleet-wide fault. We would encourage any customer who experiences a problem to report it to us with the date, time and route so we can investigate promptly."”