A MUM who questioned a rail company’s pushchair policy was told: “I’d stop having kids if I were you”.
Now Northern Rail is investigating Emma Moore’s claim that a conductor made the insulting remark during a journey from Huddersfield to Shepley.
The mum-of-two, 30, and her friend Laura Musson were confronted by the conductor as they attempted to board the train with their children at Huddersfield railway station after a shopping trip.
He told them children in buggies were not normally allowed, but he would make an exception.
While on board, Emma asked him to explain the company’s policy.
She said: “I asked him what we’re meant to do if we have children in buggies.
“He said: ‘I’d stop having kids if I were you.
“I think it’s absolutely scandalous in this day and age, when people are encouraged to go green, that I’m discriminated against because I have a buggy.
“To be told to stop reproducing, what kind of an attitude is that?
“And people wonder why nobody bothers to use public transport.”
Problems started when Emma, of Marsh Lane, tried to get on the train with 11-month-old daughter Imogen, who was in a buggy.
Laura’s six-month-old son Zac was also in a pushchair.
The conductor asked them what they were doing.
Emma said: “He looked us up and down and said, ‘Go on then, I’ll let you on this once, but in future you won’t be allowed on with prams and buggies.’
“I asked him what we were meant to do and he told us we had to collapse them. He said, ‘I’m just telling you, it’s not my fault.’
“Then I asked him what you’re meant to do if you bring a disabled person in a wheelchair.
“He told me there was a protocol that only one person in a wheelchair was allowed on a train at any one time for health and safety.
“I couldn’t believe it.”
A Northern Rail spokeswoman said there was a “common sense approach” to the use of buggies on trains.
She said: “We’ve received Emma Moore’s complaint and an investigation is under way.
“We ask our conductors to adopt a common sense approach to accommodating prams and buggies on our trains.
“The safety of our passengers is a priority and the conductor will always make sure that doorways and vestibules are kept clear so as not to obstruct the entry and exit of passengers.”
She said areas designated for wheelchairs could be used by prams and pushchairs.
“However, if a wheelchair user subsequently boards the train, the conductor will ask for the pram or buggy to be moved or folded down to allow the customer priority access,” she added.
“Most of our trains have at least one designated wheelchair space. However, because we operate several different types of trains sometimes it may be possible to accommodate more than one.”
