A DISABLED student demanding fair access to public transport caused traffic gridlock when she parked her wheelchair in front of a stream of double-decker buses.
The striking demonstration came in the height of rush hour on Friday afternoon and left four-lane Camden Road, nearby Camden Street and several of the surrounding streets jammed.
To the sound of tooting car horns, protester Maria Whitefield, 18, said she was blocking the traffic to persuade Transport for London (TfL) to make sure that all wheelchair ramps on buses function properly.
She added: “They say that buses will not go out without working ramps but in reality they hardly ever work and it means the drivers just drive off without us.” Disability campaign groups and politicians have reacted to the protest by urging transport chiefs to take swift action.
Ms Whitefield defiantly went nose to nose with the buses, sparking fears among flustered police officers that she could be injured.
They twice hauled her out of the road to boos and hisses from onlookers and warned the protester that she could face arrest.
But Ms Whitefield stubbornly ignored their pleas to give up her protest and continued manauvering her electric-powered wheelchair into the busy street for over an hour.
At one stage, eight buses and dozens of cars were snared in the gridlock. Some passengers cheered her on, while others were clearly frustrated at the delays.
Ms Whitefield, who has been in a wheelchair since she was seven, said: “This is an equal opportunities protest. Everybody should be allowed to get on a bus. I have tried everything, spoken to the bus companies and Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London) but nothing gets sorted out. It’s upsetting and completely out of order. It goes against their own guidelines and promises.”
As officers dragged her wheelchair onto the pavement, Ms Whitefield, a performing arts student from south London, batted them away with clenched fists. On a previous protest in busy streets in the West End, she was arrested and detained at a police station.
She said on Friday: “I know it is dangerous but I don’t mind what happens. You have to make your point and people need to listen.”
Keith Armstrong, who is on the management board of the Disability in Camden (Disc) group and has previously advised transport groups on how to provide better access, said last night (Wednesday): “I can understand her frustration. Public transport isn’t public transport if not everybody can get on buses. There was a time when I had to stop a bus outside the British Library in Euston Road because the driver refused to use the ramps.
“It is frustrating. I have noticed an improvement but there is still more to be done. The best buses are the bendy buses but drivers still need to do more.”
He warned that protests should be done carefully and preferably in groups.
Labour councillor Roger Robinson, a long-term campaigner for better access for the disabled, added: “There is a problem and there is frustration. Transport systems in Paris and Bonn are fully accessible.
“If other countries can do it, then so should we be able to. To Ken Livingstone’s credit he has taken it seriously and has said that buses should be made accessible. It’s just a question of making sure it gets done.”
A TfL press official said yesterday (Wednesday) that any disabled passengers with complaints should report individual incidents – rather than attempt dangerous protests.
He said: “By the end of the year all drivers will have had training. We have had an audit of buses and only a tiny number had ramps that did not work.
“If people do have concerns, then they should tell us about them because we are in a position to make sure something gets done.”