Nargis Fakhri says she was told by the driver she couldn't get on as there was already a pushchair in the designated space.
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00:00Just get off the bus. You give disabled people a bad name.
00:05Always have priority.
00:07This bus driver is being investigated by Arriva, after a woman from Strood says she couldn't
00:12board due to a baby's pushchair taking up the space.
00:16Nargis Thackeray suffers with several spinal and back conditions, meaning she relies on
00:21a wheelchair to get around, and she's done so for the last 13 years.
00:25Just get off the bus. You give disabled people a bad name.
00:29He just said, oh you cannot get in, so I'm like, I peeked a little bit and I said, there's
00:34a space, can I please get in? Can you give me a ramp? And then he said, no, there's no
00:39space. And I'm like, could you please ask the people, I'm wet and I'm shivering, I'm
00:45cold. He said, you have no priority, you cannot ask people to move.
00:50Nargis says another passenger hit her when she tried to film the bus driver's attitude,
00:55and that the whole incident has left her feeling scared to go out of her house.
01:00She took my mobile and I was like, who took my mobile? It happened so fast, all I was
01:05feeling pain on my hand. You took my mobile, you're not giving my mobile back, there's
01:10lots of CCTV camera and everyone watch, you took my mobile. And then she said, haha, I
01:17deleted all your videos. I was having a panic attack. I called police and I reported police
01:26everything what happened.
01:28A spokesperson for Arriva South said the bus operator is aware of the incident and it is
01:32being investigated. Conditions of carriage state wheelchairs have priority and that drivers
01:38are expected to ask pushchairs to fold down to make space, although if they refuse, they
01:44say drivers are advised not to get into conflict.
01:47However, Nargis says this isn't the service she received and that the passenger with a
01:52pram was happy to fold down their pushchair.
01:55The thing is we have priority wheelchairs and this is the only place, the designed area,
02:01this is the only place we can travel. It makes me scared because I used to go every day,
02:08every day outside to meet people, doing something. Now I didn't go. Since those things happened,
02:15I didn't go. I'm very upset.
02:18Kent Police is also looking into the incident and says it's investigating the report of
02:22an assault. It was at this bus stop just outside Strood Retail Park where Nargis first tried
02:27to board the bus. She says it could take some time, if at all, before she feels comfortable
02:31to come back and catch one again.
02:33I'm FollowMeHall for KMTV in Strood.