YP Comment: Good manners do cost nothing

five YEARS after Doug Paulley was left stranded at a Wetherby bus stop because a mother refused to move her child's pushchair from a space reserved for wheelchair users, his stance has been upheld by the High Court in a landmark victory.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Jan 2017, 10:04 BST
Updated 19th Jan 2017, 10:07 BST
Doug Paulley, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, outside the Supreme Court in London, after disabled travellers won a partial victory at the court in their battle for priority use of wheelchair spaces on buses. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.Doug Paulley, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, outside the Supreme Court in London, after disabled travellers won a partial victory at the court in their battle for priority use of wheelchair spaces on buses. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Doug Paulley, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, outside the Supreme Court in London, after disabled travellers won a partial victory at the court in their battle for priority use of wheelchair spaces on buses. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.

The regret is that it even came to this. Mr Paulley’s battle began in 2012, the year that London hosted the Paralympics which changed the public’s attitudes towards the disabled so wheelchair users were accepted as equals.

If passengers, whether on the bus or train, were more respectful of the disabled, the elderly or those with mobility difficulties, and transport operators like FirstGroup actually trained their staff to be more aware of this issue, it would not 
have required the intervention of the courts. After all, good manners 
cost nothing – a priceless notion which is in danger of being undermined by a selfish and thoughtless minority’s lack of respect. How sad.

Related topics:WetherbyHigh CourtLondon