Ignorant generation

To the ignorant old man who got on the 27 bound for Aston with his equally ignorant wife, and the two equally ignorant pensioners who were at the front of the bus directly behind the wheelchair and pram space that I was occupying with my son in his pram.
disabled spacesdisabled spaces
disabled spaces

Yes, your wife did have a three-wheel aid for walking and is clearly disabled. She also got straight on the bus and sat down on the vacant seat at the front of the bus. No I didn’t move. The reasons for this being that....

1. Buses lurch when they stop, that’s probably why you and your wife don’t stand up to exit the bus until the driver has stopped, and why the driver waited for you to sit down. This lurching also moves prams, containing babies who can’t put their arms forward to break their fall or stop them from obtaining serious injuries like you or I can.

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2. My priority is my son, not you, and not the fact that you refuse to sit a seat behind your wife, or on one of the other many free seats on the bus, as you wish to sit opposite her. This means that I sit with my knee on the frame of the pram, my foot behind the brake and hold onto the frame of the pram so that my son is safe and doesn’t lurch backwards or forwards and, god forbid, in the event of the bus crashing nothing and nobody will fall into him and crush him as he is my priority and I will make damn sure I’m between him and any other obstacle.

3. My son is currently sick and under the hospital, and as he’s not feeling his best and as he’s only one he screams the place down if he can’t see me and is in pain. So him being able to see me and him being comforted ranks higher on my priorities than you sitting opposite your wife.

4. There was a luggage rack you could have put the three-wheel walker in, you chose not too! I would gladly have picked it up for you and put it in there for you.

5. I heard every single word of the lot of you slagging me off and chose to ignore you (until I exited the bus and you took it upon yourself to shout abuse at me) as you clearly have no concept of the fact that 1. Bus companies state that space is for wheelchair users and if there is nobody on a wheelchair then can be used by prams IF they are safe they are only safe if held in place. Rules that the bus companies make up not me! 2. I quite honestly think slagging people off on public transport is totally pig ignorant, and rude and I am neither, unlike you!

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6. There are also stickers in the wheelchair and pram spaces which state to give those seats up if disabled people require them. I’d like to inform you that there are many disabilities which CANNOT be seen, that cause daily constant pain, and impact on every single moment of an individual’s life – such as the one I have! So I was entitled to sit in that space on not one but two counts!

7. Yes, I replied to you after you shouted abuse at me as I left, as I had put up with listening to it off the three of you all the way home.

NO I’m not a disgrace as you told me, I wasn’t slagging anyone off and certainly wasn’t judging anyone unlike your good self! I don’t care if you used to carry your babies when you were young, as back in the day you also sent young lads down the pit at 14 which is why the hospitals are full of men coughing up crap and dying of pulmonary diseases. What you used to do isn’t necessarily better than what is done today.

8. I regularly use public transport with my baby, and have many dealings with the public and I can, hand on heart, say now that since having my baby, and when I had my eldest, that I am sick of hearing your generation, who bang on about the good old days, blaming our country for letting Muslims in on the rise of Isis, and calling for anyone who isn’t white to be sent home.

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I’m sick of the fact that nine times out of 10 not a single old person says thank you when you hold a door open for them.

I’m sick of the fact that you think nothing of sitting in pram spaces and refuse to move when someone with a pram (or even a wheelchair) gets on as “you were there first with your shopping trolley” ,even though prams and wheelchairs have nowhere else to go and I’ve never once seen anyone be asked to move when there wasn’t adequate space elsewhere you could physically get too. People with prams simply wait for the next bus in my experience or fold the pram down IF they are able to do so!

Your generation are by far the most rude and ignorant people I have ever met.

However, black and Asian men, who you normally sit and slate and name call, are always the ones who will help and who do have manners.

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Finally I wish you a good day, I hope I never have the misfortune of seeing you again on the bus, but if I do, and even if I don’t, maybe you could try not being quite so judgmental, rude and ignorant towards others in future!

Ms Fletcher

by email

The witch hunts

Regarding the recent flurry of alleged accusations against MPs; Hollywood stars and media moguls; a young British actor and now past and present staff at the BBC.

While there maybe evidence to initiate a criminal prosecution in at least one US case, by and large, the rest remain unsubstantiated, yet individuals are being witch-hunted into resigning their posts, being dropped and air-brushed out of films on the basis of allegations and trial by social media juries and holier than thou sections of a liberal society, which is ironic, as a few of those were once seen as darlings of said liberal society.

What happened to innocent until proven guilty and when was it judged better, as a victim of abuse, to turn to the media rather than the police to get justice?

David Tyldesley

by email

Wearing poppies

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I was interested to see the letter in Saturday’s Star which said how hard it was to obtain a poppy in Sheffield.

I live in Rotherham and I have experienced no such difficulty.

For many days now there has been a stall in the bus station, (which also serves the multi-storey car park), and it is there that I bought my poppy.

I have seen lots of people patronising the stall and lots wearing poppies.

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The stall was in action to-day, (November 11), and was manned by young members of the air cadets who I may say were a credit to their organisation, looking extremely smart.

Henry Tompkin

Hall Crescent, Rotherham S60

Are they here to stay?

Fantastic news that the City Hall’s famous lions have at long last been returned to their rightful home. But what a shame that the story was relegated to page 14 of The Star.

There’s enough potential here for a full-blown article telling us the history of the lions and how did we get them back?

Did we have to buy them back or were they a gift?

How were they transported and where is their final resting place to be?

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Obviously not on the stage in their original position. More to the point, are they here to stay?

Many Sheffielders are very fond of these iconic creatures and would love to know the full story.

Howard Greaves

Chairman, Hallamshire Historic Building