# First Bus - breastfeeding mother kicked off bus!



## Thora (Feb 25, 2010)

Link here



> The 25-year-old said the driver told her a complaint had been made about her "indecent exposure".
> 
> Miss Wootten was feeding Emily at about 4.30pm on a packed bus when the driver threatened to call the police if she did not do as he asked.



Can't believe no one else on the bus stuck up for her!


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## trashpony (Feb 25, 2010)

Jesus, how fucking depressing  I can well believe no one stuck up for her - people are really weird about breastfeeding


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## Dooby (Feb 25, 2010)

Oh god I can't even bring myself to look at the link. Have gone way past anger on this issue by now. I'm not angry. *I'm disappointed.*


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## Thora (Feb 25, 2010)

I bet there would have been plenty of complaints if she let her 6 week old baby scream with hunger for the next 20 minutes


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## trashpony (Feb 25, 2010)

I was on the bus once with Elliot and he was screaming blue murder because he was so hungry. He was in his pushchair and there was no way I could have got him out and fed him without dropping him/bags/everything (bus was very crowded). A woman at the back of the bus shouted 'will you shut that fucking baby up'. I got off the bus


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## madzone (Feb 25, 2010)

The driver and the dick who complained should be made to sit in a room full of scfreaming, hungry babies.


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## rioted (Feb 25, 2010)

Thora said:


> Can't believe no one else on the bus stuck up for her!


This.


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## Strumpet (Feb 25, 2010)

Jesus fuckin christ.


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## zenie (Feb 25, 2010)

Shameful, poor Mum.


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## Badgers (Feb 25, 2010)

Pert or not?


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## Thora (Feb 25, 2010)

First's apology is so grudging as well!  Nice that they "accept" mothers might have to breastfeed.



> As a company we accept that breastfeeding mothers have the right to feed their children when they are hungry, and understand that from time to time it may be necessary to do this while travelling on the bus.


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## zenie (Feb 25, 2010)

Badgers said:


> Pert or not?


 
Well exactly, I mean the fuckin puritans are everywhere these days, stopping idle perving at breastfeeding women on buses, whatever next?!


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## onenameshelley (Feb 25, 2010)

trashpony said:


> I was on the bus once with Elliot and he was screaming blue murder because he was so hungry. He was in his pushchair and there was no way I could have got him out and fed him without dropping him/bags/everything (bus was very crowded). A woman at the back of the bus shouted 'will you shut that fucking baby up'. I got off the bus



i would like to say that i am shocked Trashy but i am not, people are selfish bastards especially when it comes to being on public transport, it becomes a moving part of their own personal domain. 

I have never understood the whole breastfeeding "eurrrrgggggh gross/indecent thing" its a tit for gods sake, you will probably see 16 times more provocative images in the adverts that the bus goes past on its way down the road!


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## machine cat (Feb 25, 2010)

That is just un-fucking-believable


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## Wolveryeti (Feb 25, 2010)

I bet I'd get kicked off a bus if I tried to suck someone's tits - and you know what - I bet nobody would stick up for me either.  What's all the fuss about?


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## LJo (Feb 25, 2010)

I see the comments on the piece contain the usual strange comparisons between breastfeeding and shitting/pissing. 

As in "Well, breastfeeding may be 'natural' but so is shitting and pissing! And we don't do that in public, do we!"

I still cannot get my head round the fact that there are people who do not understand the difference between shitting and eating, and reiterate my opinion once again that I would not like to go round their houses for lunch.


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## trashpony (Feb 25, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> I bet I'd get kicked off a bus if I tried to suck someone's tits - and you know what - I bet nobody would stick up for me either.  What's all the fuss about?



And to think I was feeling slightly bad for thinking you were a gormless teenager


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## Wolveryeti (Feb 25, 2010)

Isn't this just a case of socially acceptable paedophilia?


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## Hocus Eye. (Feb 25, 2010)

At least the bus company apologised, sent her flowers and promised to make an enquiry into the 'incident'.  There is no mention of them paying her taxi fair though. I can't imaging what sort of person would make such a complaint.  Feeding a baby doesn't leave the breast exposed, the baby's head covers it and there is no need to be looking at the poor hungry kid having its lunch.

Perhaps the complainant had a sandwich in their pocket and a drink which they wanted to consume and had just seen a sign about not eating or drinking on the company's buses.  They were just jealous maybe?


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## trashpony (Feb 25, 2010)

LJo said:


> I see the comments on the piece contain the usual strange comparisons between breastfeeding and shitting/pissing.
> 
> As in "Well, breastfeeding may be 'natural' but so is shitting and pissing! And we don't do that in public, do we!"
> 
> I still cannot get my head round the fact that there are people who do not understand the difference between shitting and eating, and reiterate my opinion once again that I would not like to go round their houses for lunch.



I like her robust defence against all the other accusations against her too - that she's a single mother, the baby is the product of a one night stand and she's not very pretty. 

FFS I always thought Bristol was a pretty okay place


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## stupid dogbot (Feb 25, 2010)

Bristol Bus Drivers, in fairness, are mostly surly, aggressive twats.


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## existentialist (Feb 25, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> I bet I'd get kicked off a bus if I tried to suck someone's tits - and you know what - I bet nobody would stick up for me either.  What's all the fuss about?


Actually, what the fuss is about is very neatly encapsulated in that post you've made there.

OK, nobody's denying that breasts have a sexual significance. But most of us know that they also have another role. Most of us capable of thinking louder than the sound of our own Neanderthal knuckles, dragging along the ground, can separate the two functions.

So that, when a woman takes out a breast to feed her child, it is pretty self-evidently not a "way-hay, get yer jugs out, darlin'" moment. The fact that you seem to be confused by the distinction says quite a lot.

There is really something very wrong with the attitudes to women and their bodies that society is teaching us if someone can feel perfectly justified in complaining because someone is breastfeeding a child. I won't say it doesn't make me ever so slightly awkward, for a moment or two, when I (rarely) encounter it happening, but when it does, I don't suddenly find myself reaching for the "BAN" button. And I'm not quite sure, other than a combination of prurience and the sexual/nurturing role confusion thing, that could give anyone reason to make trouble about it.

We all have to put up with things we find uncomfortable - same-sex couples kissing, heterosexual couples kissing, people crying, mental illness, to name a few. We usually recognise where these awkward and embarrassing occurrences are beyond someone's control, and (generally) make allowances for them: sometimes, though, when you listen to the outrage about breastfeeding mothers, you'd think it was something they did because they suddenly felt like getting their top off on the bus .


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## editor (Feb 25, 2010)

What! We can't let the CHILDREN or VULNERABLE ADULTS see what they were fed on when they were babies because that's OBSCENE! 

Or something. I hope she sorts out a mass breastfeeding protest on that bus.


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## aylee (Feb 25, 2010)

Anyone who complains about breastfeeding in public needs to be chained to a bench while used nappies (used side downwards) are dropped on them repeatedly from a huge height.


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## Onket (Feb 25, 2010)

Perhaps they were sisters? This was Bristol after all.

Etc.


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## aylee (Feb 25, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> I bet I'd get kicked off a bus if I tried to suck someone's tits - and you know what - I bet nobody would stick up for me either.  What's all the fuss about?



You're a stupid little cock, aren't you?


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## Chairman Meow (Feb 25, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> Isn't this just a case of socially acceptable paedophilia?


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## existentialist (Feb 25, 2010)

editor said:


> What! We can't let the CHILDREN or VULNERABLE ADULTS see what they were fed on when they were babies because that's OBSCENE!
> 
> Or something. I hope she sorts out a mass breastfeeding protest on that bus.


It needs a kind of Rosa Parks moment.

Be nice to see it happen.


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## fractionMan (Feb 25, 2010)

Thora said:


> Link here
> 
> 
> 
> Can't believe no one else on the bus stuck up for her!



I would have told the driver to fuck off on her behalf, no problem.

What a twat.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Feb 25, 2010)

HOld on, isn't it actually illegal now to stop someone from breast feeding in a public place?


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## Oswaldtwistle (Feb 25, 2010)

A little something for the good folks at first bus, from my friend's band http://www.youtube.com/eclectech#p/u/7/aESEjREDGt0


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## trashpony (Feb 25, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> HOld on, isn't it actually illegal now to stop someone from breast feeding in a public place?



Yep, good point.



> The 2008 amendment to the SDA brought in more specific cover under the wording of ‘maternity’ - this also brought in the first mention of a six-month period, as it is tied to broader maternity rights covering 6 months before and after birth - whereby a mother could also challenge the owner under the grounds of maternity
> 
> The Equality Bill seeks to make it even more explicit that this maternity protection includes breastfeeding, by including the word breastfeeding in the statute.
> 
> So, for example, if a mother who is breastfeeding a 27 week old baby on a bus or in a café is asked to leave or to stop breastfeeding, she can take legal action on the grounds of sexual discrimination. If that same mother was feeding a child under 26 weeks, she could take action under the grounds of maternity or sexual discrimination.


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## stupid dogbot (Feb 25, 2010)

If someone really did complain, they're a total twat.


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## yardbird (Feb 25, 2010)

stupid dogbot said:


> If someone really did complain, they're a total twat.



If I'd been on the bus and heard the driver I would have stepped in.
Outrageous


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## Thora (Feb 25, 2010)

Lots of the comments show a total lack of understanding when it comes to human biology too.  "Why couldn't she have waited til she got home?", "why doesn't she only go out between feeds?" - her baby is 6 weeks old, that's why


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## innit (Feb 25, 2010)

It's a six week old baby, not a sixteen year old kid.  Anyone who is weirded out by the sight of a mum feeding a baby has issues, imo.


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## Geri (Feb 25, 2010)

stupid dogbot said:


> Bristol Bus Drivers, in fairness, are mostly surly, aggressive twats.



Seconded. I got on a bus the other day, and I only had £10 because I had just been to the cashpoint. I gave him the tenner, and he just stared at me. I stared back at him, and then he said grumpily "I can't change that" so I said "Well, you'll have to give me a change ticket then, won't you?"

What he should have said was "Sorry, I don't have any change. I can either give you a change ticket, or you can wait for the next bus." Preferably in a cheerful manner. 

Maybe they should send them all on a customer relations course.


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## cesare (Feb 25, 2010)

existentialist said:
			
		

> So that, when a woman takes out a breast to feed her child, it is pretty self-evidently not a "way-hay, get yer jugs out, darlin'" moment. The fact that you seem to be confused by the distinction says quite a lot.



But there isn't usually a 'taking out a breast' feeding moment. That makes it sound a lot more obvious than it usually is. There's not some grand display of taking out a breast, just loosening of clothing so baby gets access.


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## trashpony (Feb 25, 2010)

cesare said:


> But there isn't usually a 'taking out a breast' feeding moment. That makes it sound a lot more obvious than it usually is. There's not some grand display of taking out a breast, just loosening of clothing so baby gets access.



That's true. When I was breastfeeding, I only ever wore loose tops so you could barely see the baby, no matter about my breast


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## existentialist (Feb 25, 2010)

cesare said:


> But there isn't usually a 'taking out a breast' feeding moment. That makes it sound a lot more obvious than it usually is. There's not some grand display of taking out a breast, just loosening of clothing so baby gets access.


Apologies, I wasn't trying to suggest that! I was trying to paint the connotations in the - somewhat lurid - colours of wolveryeti's strange moral codes. Perhaps I could have made it clearer...


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## LJo (Feb 25, 2010)

I am fascinated by this concept of 'militant breastfeeders'.

What do militant breastfeeders do that is different from normal breastfeeders? Run up to innocent old ladies, wave their monstrous flapping dugs, scream about feminism, hold them down and squirt milk in their faces?


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## madzone (Feb 25, 2010)

LJo said:


> I am fascinated by this concept of 'militant breastfeeders'.
> 
> What do militant breastfeeders do that is different from normal breastfeeders? Run up to innocent old ladies, wave their monstrous flapping dugs, scream about feminism, hold them down and squirt milk in their faces?


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## Ms Ordinary (Feb 25, 2010)

Hocus Eye. said:


> At least the bus company apologised, sent her flowers and promised to make an enquiry into the 'incident'.  There is no mention of them paying her taxi fair though. I can't imaging what sort of person would make such a complaint.  *Feeding a baby doesn't leave the breast exposed, the baby's head covers it* and there is no need to be looking at the poor hungry kid having its lunch.



Usually that's true - but with a new mother, a very young baby who's hungry & pissed off, squashed onto a jolty bus with bags, prams & winter coats, not to mention disapproving passengers - I don't think I'd have managed blissfully discreet feeding under those circumstances  more likely a baby unlatching at an inopportune moment to roar its head off & leave a slobbery nipple in full view...

People should just get over it though, it's fairly obvious what's going on .

I do understand it's good to reassure people that its all very discreet & you'll never see an actual breast, and 99% of the time that's perfectly true - but it isn't always like that, and that needs to be accepted too.


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## tim (Feb 25, 2010)

cesare said:


> But there isn't usually a 'taking out a breast' feeding moment. That makes it sound a lot more obvious than it usually is. There's not some grand display of taking out a breast, just loosening of clothing so baby gets access.



just after I moved to Saudi Arabia, I was rather surprised by the sight of a woman wearing a veil and niqab breastfeeding on the local seaside promenade. A swathe of black cloth with a plump baby-gnawed tit poking out.

Why are the British so squeamish about human lactation?


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## derf (Feb 25, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> I bet I'd get kicked off a bus if I tried to suck someone's tits - and you know what - I bet nobody would stick up for me either.  What's all the fuss about?



That would be a sex act and not a great idea in public. Feeding a baby is hardly the same.



trashpony said:


> And to think I was feeling slightly bad for thinking you were a gormless teenager



My answer was the nice version but yours is better. 



Wolveryeti said:


> Isn't this just a case of socially acceptable paedophilia?



Is this the tit poster of the thread?

I really don't get that attitude at all. This is a mainly Muslim country and , as you know, Muslims are all seen as prudes by many.
Out here a woman just gets on with breast feeding regardless of where she is and no bugger blinks an eye.


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## Wolveryeti (Feb 25, 2010)

trashpony said:


> That's true. When I was breastfeeding, I only ever wore loose tops so you could barely see the baby, no matter about my breast



Thank fuck.


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## weepiper (Feb 25, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> Thank fuck.



If you don't like it, don't bloody look.


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## Wolveryeti (Feb 25, 2010)

I want to look, but the baps have to be class A


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## weepiper (Feb 25, 2010)

prick.


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## trashpony (Feb 25, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> I want to look, but the baps have to be class A



How did you get to finish a degree and still be so Kevin-like? It's really stupid


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## PursuedByBears (Feb 25, 2010)

This story is unbefuckinglieveable.

And Wolfboy is a complete donkey's anus.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 26, 2010)

LJo said:


> I am fascinated by this concept of 'militant breastfeeders'.
> 
> What do militant breastfeeders do that is different from normal breastfeeders? Run up to innocent old ladies, wave their monstrous flapping dugs, scream about feminism, hold them down and squirt milk in their faces?



i think i have that manga


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## cesare (Feb 26, 2010)

tim said:


> just after I moved to Saudi Arabia, I was rather surprised by the sight of a woman wearing a veil and niqab breastfeeding on the local seaside promenade. A swathe of black cloth with a plump baby-gnawed tit poking out.
> 
> *Why are the British so squeamish about human lactation?*



I don't know about squeamish ... more like trying to find a discreet 'acceptable' path between the two extremes of appalled moralreligious bus driver and slavering prurient Wolveryeti types.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Feb 26, 2010)

Wolveryeti said:


> I want to look, but the baps have to be class A



You are a complete anus.


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## susanwesty (Feb 26, 2010)

yes i seen this and was very upset by it. how can people steep so low lol. its a damn baby being fed. not shagging on the back seat for christs sake.

have u seen this group on facebook? Sack The Bus Driver Who Did This To A Breastfeeding Mum http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=361360580069&ref=nf there is already a campaign going around lol


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 26, 2010)

I really, REALLY, cannot believe a '*packed*' bus just let her be kicked off. Fucking right I'd have been up in the drivers face or anyone else for throwing a mum and her baby off. Yeh, I would've liked to see him call the cops. I would've wasted everyone's time just to see that one. Fuck that. I would have delighted in it in fact.

PROPER  @ this story


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## Idaho (Feb 26, 2010)

Perhaps there was more to the situation than has been reported? More of a threatening atmosphere on the bus? I find it strange that no-one would have stood up for her.


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## stupid dogbot (Feb 26, 2010)

Idaho said:


> Perhaps there was more to the situation than has been reported? More of a threatening atmosphere on the bus? I find it strange that no-one would have stood up for her.



Normally, I'd agree... but no one ever spoke up about _anything_ the drivers did on the buses when I was using them regularly.

Case in point.

Packed X73 leaving centre of Bristol, my housemate (an off duty, but in uniform driver!) and I towards the back of the bus. Guy with a guitar case realises he's on the wrong bus, and rings the bell. People move around to let him through. Bus stops. Girl standing near the front takes a step forward, so guy can get through.

Driver turns and says "get back behind the sign love, can't you read".

She tries to explain why she's there, he starts shouting at her, threatening to physically throw her off the bus, saying the bus won't move again until she does as she's told, etc etc. No one says a thing. She's nearly in tears at this point.

I move down the bus and make a show to him of noting his driver number. He starts screaming at me, threatening all sorts. By this time, my housemate moves down, takes the radio, and reports the driver. Meanwhile, the majority of the other passengers are looking at us like we're selling hot weasels. Well, you mustn't challenge the man with the steering wheel, eh? 

Arsehole. Lots of them are like this.


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## Sunspots (Feb 26, 2010)

Thora said:


> Lots of the comments show a total lack of understanding when it comes to human biology too.  "Why couldn't she have waited til she got home?", "why doesn't she only go out between feeds?" - her baby is 6 weeks old, that's why



No matter what the story, the majority of Readers' Comments on the Bristol Evening Post website tend to be moronic; not quite as bad as those on YouTube, but still...


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## trashpony (Feb 26, 2010)

Idaho said:


> Perhaps there was more to the situation than has been reported? More of a threatening atmosphere on the bus? I find it strange that no-one would have stood up for her.



One of the passengers complained and the driver threw her off. Judging by some of the comments on the webpage, a lot of people think that was the right thing to do


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## stupid dogbot (Feb 26, 2010)

trashpony said:


> One of the passengers complained and the driver threw her off. Judging by some of the comments on the webpage, a lot of people think that was the right thing to do



Yeah, but that's the Evening Post website... most of the arseholes commentators on there think Auschwitz didn't really go far enough.


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## trashpony (Feb 26, 2010)

stupid dogbot said:


> Yeah, but that's the Evening Post website... most of the arseholes commentators on there think Auschwitz didn't really go far enough.



True but I can imagine no one made a fuss. No one stood up for me when the woman was shouting at me to shut the fucking baby up either. People don't want to get involved - most don't give enough of a shit about a total stranger to help out


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## kyser_soze (Feb 26, 2010)

aylee said:


> Anyone who complains about breastfeeding in public needs to be chained to a bench while used nappies (used side downwards) are dropped on them repeatedly from a huge height.



You can go to some estates in Glasgow and become an unwitting victim of that kind of thing.


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## LDR (Feb 26, 2010)

My boss's wife is about 5 months pregnant and was off to a hospital appointment just a couple of days ago.  The hospital is in the countryside and halfway there she asks the bus driver to pull over as she was about to be sick.

He pulls over and she steps of the bus and vomits.  She goes to get back on bus and the driver won't let her on again claiming she may be sick again.

So he's leaves an obviously pregnant women stranded in the middle of nowhere.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Feb 26, 2010)

Thora said:


> Link here
> 
> 
> 
> Can't believe no one else on the bus stuck up for her!



I wonder what the police would have charged her with?


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## Thora (Feb 26, 2010)

Johnny Canuck2 said:


> I wonder what the police would have charged her with?



They couldn't have charged her with anything.  It's nice to think in that situation you'd tell him to go ahead and call them, but with a tiny baby and on a crowded bus I doubt many people would be brave enough.

It should be illegal to harass women for breastfeeding.


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## cesare (Feb 26, 2010)

Thora said:


> It should be illegal to harass women for breastfeeding.



Gotta be some form of sex discrimination in the field of provision of goods and services though, I'da thought


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## Thora (Feb 26, 2010)

I think it's illegal in Scotland to ask breastfeeding women to stop/leave in public places isn't it?


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## cesare (Feb 26, 2010)

Thora said:


> I think it's illegal in Scotland to ask breastfeeding women to stop/leave in public places isn't it?



Not sure about Scotland tbh. They might separately legislate for it. But in England and Wales, I'd definitely be taking a good old look at this if I was pregnant/breast feeding and was dished some of the less favourable treatment that people have described on this thread: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/your-rights/gender/sex-discrimination-as-a-consumer/


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## scifisam (Feb 26, 2010)

Thora said:


> They couldn't have charged her with anything.  It's nice to think in that situation you'd tell him to go ahead and call them, but with a tiny baby and on a crowded bus I doubt many people would be brave enough.
> 
> It should be illegal to harass women for breastfeeding.



It is - it was mentioned earlier in this thread. Probably one of those end-of-the-page posts that's easy to miss.


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## invisibleplanet (Feb 26, 2010)

Thora said:


> Link here
> 
> 
> 
> Can't believe no one else on the bus stuck up for her!



Nor can I. I distinctly remember having to feed my boy on the bus (he was crying and fratchy), and one of the old couples (in their 70s) on the bus smiled at me, and praised me. I used to wear a poncho, which is excellent for discrete breast feeding.


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## Geri (Feb 27, 2010)

There are some proper weirdos on the Bristol buses. I usually get the Chipping Sodbury bus home from work, if I have to get the bus, and it is much more civilised. The other day though I had to M&S on the way home as they'd left a tag on something I bought, so I got the 49. About halfway home, a man started yelling abuse and calling people "fucking cunts!" at the top of his voice. I didn't hear what set it off as I had my MP3 player on but he was yelling so loud I could hear it above my music.

About two days later I decided to get the bus to Tesco on the way home from work as I couldn't be arsed with the walk. The bus pulled up and as soon as the doors opened I could smell the most horrendous pong, like BO or stale piss. It was so bad I had to open the window, and I spent the whole journey having to cover my nose. I noticed a lot of other people were doing the same.


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## Thora (Feb 27, 2010)

It seems that she might have made it up after all! 

Article


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## Thora (Feb 27, 2010)

I suppose it explains why no passengers intervened on her behalf.



> But during an investigation launched by the company CCTV from the bus was subsequently examined and found to show that Miss Wootten was not forced off the vehicle in Wells Road by the driver as she claimed. The footage, seen by the Post, shows that driver, Rob Stone, did not even speak to her during the journey along the 54 route on Tuesday and it shows the time she got off the bus and the location.
> 
> Mr Stone, 55, told the Post that he noticed Miss Wootten breastfeeding when he looked in the mirror while driving along but did not say anything and heard nothing from any of the other passengers.
> 
> He said he even remembered lowering the vehicle to make it easier for the mother to get off the bus with the baby's pram.


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## trashpony (Feb 27, 2010)

How bizarre


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## ymu (Feb 27, 2010)

Summat odd going on there. In the first articles she was saying it was the first time she'd breast fed in public and she was so scared to do it but she'd finally managed and then look what happened...

Over-enthusiastic breast-feeding counsellor?


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## invisibleplanet (Feb 27, 2010)

trashpony said:


> How bizarre



The original article did quote her saying that she had struggled initially to breast feed. 


> "I have really struggled breastfeeding Emily and had so many problems but was determined to do the right thing for her.
> 
> "It just makes you really reluctant to feed in public.
> 
> ...



But to make this up: 


> She said: "The bus driver told me someone had said I was indecently exposing myself and said stop or get off my bus.
> 
> "It was like he was suggesting I was doing horrendous things. But I was being quite discreet about it.
> 
> ...



Why make that story up? Very sad indeed.


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## Geri (Feb 27, 2010)

I rest my case.


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## Thora (Feb 27, 2010)

Maybe she's not well


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## Jonti (Feb 27, 2010)

Lucky the CCTV on the bus was working and the bus drivers's innocence could be easily established.





> The first the former mental health worker knew of the complaint was when he got a call on Thursday morning asking him about the "incident" on the bus.
> 
> Mr Stone, who also worked as a milkman in the 70s, said: "I knew it wasn't right but I knew we would have the footage. My only concern was that it might not have been working.
> 
> ...


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## Hocus Eye. (Feb 27, 2010)

Also it seems that Harriet Harman has put her nose in and used the story to publicise some new equalities bill that will make it illegal to stop a woman breast feeding for the first 6 months.

I wonder why the girl made up this story, is she after some attention?  As for the reporting, I noticed that the paper mentioned that the driver had previously been a mental health worker.  I wonder what the relevance of that is, or even the fact that before being a mental health worker he had been a milk man.  Do you have to complete a CV before being interviewed by a local paper?


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## Sunspots (Feb 27, 2010)

Hocus Eye. said:


> As for the reporting, I noticed that the paper mentioned that the driver had previously been a mental health worker.  I wonder what the relevance of that is, or even the fact that before being a mental health worker he had been a milk man.  Do you have to complete a CV before being interviewed by a local paper?



I noticed this too, but tbh, it's fairly common practice for Bristol Evening Post stories to mention details like this, no matter how tenuous.  I'm guessing they do it just to plump up the column inches and give their dear readers the impression that they're getting in-depth reportage.

'Daily Mail-owned local newspaper in Daily Mail-style sub-standard journalism shocka!!'


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## kyser_soze (Mar 1, 2010)

It's called 'background' in journalese, folks.


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## fractionMan (Mar 1, 2010)

how odd.


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## cesare (Mar 1, 2010)

That poor bloke! He's had to go through all that internal investigation, plus the media attention/public responses when it seems he didn't do anything wrong. 

She hasn't helped those that have encountered genuine situations by this scaremongering either. Whatever was she thinking


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## Sunspots (Mar 1, 2010)

I read the updated story this morning.  According to The Evening Post, the woman is still insisting that the incident took place just as she originally claimed.

Unsurprisingly, and despite the very real possibility that she's maybe not currently in the best of health, she's now getting torn to shreds by the morons in the Reader Comments...


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## stupid dogbot (Mar 1, 2010)

Sunspots said:


> I read the updated story this morning.  According to The Evening Post, the woman is still insisting that the incident took place just as she originally claimed.
> 
> Unsurprisingly, and despite the very real possibility that she's maybe not currently in the best of health, she's now getting torn to shreds by the morons in the Reader Comments...



Indeed.

Odd one, but doesn't make any of the foaming-at-the-lips EP posters any less arsey.


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## trashpony (Mar 1, 2010)

I think (according to mumsnet) what seems to have happened is that she was joining in on a 'aren't First bus a bunch of cunts' conversation and fabricated an impressive sounding example. Which then has rather got out of control and she doesn't know how to back down. I feel a bit sorry for her tbh - it's the sort of thing people do to get a bit of kudos but you'd never imagine it'd get this out of control (although I am assuming she didn't actually go to the paper herself)


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## yardbird (Mar 1, 2010)

Silly girl.
She seems to have got carried away.
Not very net savvy - did the paper pick up the story from the mumsnet site?
We all know that journalists trawl boards for stories - even here


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## kyser_soze (Mar 1, 2010)

> We all know that journalists trawl boards for stories - even here



Features more often - Metro and a couple of other papers had big photo-features on the USAF aircraft boneyard images that Tits started a thread about a whiles back...


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## Sunspots (Mar 1, 2010)

trashpony said:


> I think (according to mumsnet) what seems to have happened is that she was joining in on a 'aren't First bus a bunch of cunts' conversation and fabricated an impressive sounding example. Which then has rather got out of control and she doesn't know how to back down. I feel a bit sorry for her tbh - it's the sort of thing people do to get a bit of kudos but you'd never imagine it'd get this out of control (although I am assuming she didn't actually go to the paper herself)



Do you mean that the original conversation was online (-_on_ mumsnet?), or that it was a real life conversation that somehow found it's way to the local paper (-maybe _via_ mumsnet?)? 

_(-edit: ah, I see yardbird has already beaten me to that question!)_

Anyway, if so, how can it have got _so_ out of hand? 

Given the _utter_ random bollocks some people talk on various web forums (-on here, for instance ) can you imagine it then somehow making the front page of the local paper, column inches in the nationals, and prompting a statement by Leader of The House Of Commons?


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## Sunspots (Mar 1, 2010)

kyser_soze said:


> Metro and a couple of other papers had big photo-features on the USAF aircraft boneyard images that Tits started a thread about a whiles back...



I noticed that too, and did wonder whether it was just mere coincidence. 

(-Could well be though, I suppose; it wasn't the first time I'd seen pictures of it.)

It definitely goes on though, as you say.


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## kyser_soze (Mar 1, 2010)

> Given the utter random bollocks some people talk on various web forums (-on here, for instance ) can you imagine it then somehow making the front page of the local paper, column inches in the nationals, and prompting a statement by Leader of The House Of Commons



Crack Squirrels


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## trashpony (Mar 1, 2010)

Sunspots said:


> Do you mean that the original conversation was online (-_on_ mumsnet?), or that it was a real life conversation that somehow found it's way to the local paper (-maybe _via_ mumsnet?)?
> 
> _(-edit: ah, I see yardbird has already beaten me to that question!)_



I think that she had a conversation with some people IRL which then got posted onto MN - whether by her or someone else I don't know - and then it spread ... I'm not entirely sure - I only read the thread yesterday saying that she'd made it all up

And to think people worry about fb 

(and yes, see also crack squirrels)


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## Sunspots (Mar 1, 2010)

kyser_soze said:


> Crack Squirrels



Yes, lest we forget! 

Let lazy journalism be our weapon.


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## stupid dogbot (Mar 1, 2010)

^^


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## trashpony (Mar 1, 2010)

Although this story is clearly the product of a deluded woman, I have just read the earlier threads on MN though and it seems a woman had a load of air freshener sprayed over her and her kids the other day in the MIND shop in East Dulwich for breastfeeding in the changing room because breastmilk smells apparently 

smelly breastmilk


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## zenie (Mar 1, 2010)

oh dear, the ED Yummy mummies won't like that


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## trashpony (Mar 1, 2010)

zenie said:


> oh dear, the ED Yummy mummies won't like that



Shop closes within the next 6 months without them I reckon


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## Thora (Mar 1, 2010)

trashpony said:


> I think that she had a conversation with some people IRL which then got posted onto MN - whether by her or someone else I don't know - and then it spread ... I'm not entirely sure - I only read the thread yesterday saying that she'd made it all up
> 
> And to think people worry about fb
> 
> (and yes, see also crack squirrels)



Yeah that seems to be what happened - she's probably a bit of a lonely new mum and wanted to impress/join in with her new friends that she met at the mumsnet meet-up.  I'm not sure if she went to the paper herself or not though, she obviously at least colluded in it, giving them her name and allowing her and her baby to be photographed.

The only other possibility is she got the day or time of the incident wrong.


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## TopCat (Mar 9, 2010)

Thora said:


> Yeah that seems to be what happened - she's probably a bit of a lonely new mum and wanted to impress/join in with her new friends that she met at the mumsnet meet-up.  I'm not sure if she went to the paper herself or not though, she obviously at least colluded in it, giving them her name and allowing her and her baby to be photographed.
> 
> The only other possibility is she got the day or time of the incident wrong.



She complained direct to the media and then to the bus company _and _requested the driver was sacked. 

Poor driver, poor new baby...


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## existentialist (Mar 9, 2010)

TopCat said:


> She complained direct to the media and then to the bus company _and _requested the driver was sacked.
> 
> Poor driver, poor new baby...


Poor woman, too. Something isn't ringing quite true here - it's the sort of behaviour one might expect from someone in quite severe distress. I hope somebody thinks to check up on her welfare, too.


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## TopCat (Mar 9, 2010)

existentialist said:


> Poor woman, too. Something isn't ringing quite true here - it's the sort of behaviour one might expect from someone in quite severe distress. I hope somebody thinks to check up on her welfare, too.



The driver may well have been quite distressed IE sacked and pilloried in the press if the CCTV was not working correctly.

Another explanation is that the woman is a loon.


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## zenie (Mar 9, 2010)

existentialist said:


> Poor woman, too. Something isn't ringing quite true here - it's the sort of behaviour one might expect from someone in quite severe distress. I hope somebody thinks to check up on her welfare, too.


 
Or, you know some people are just horrible and make stuff up to cause trouble.


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## existentialist (Mar 9, 2010)

TopCat said:


> The driver may well have been quite distressed IE sacked and pilloried in the press if the CCTV was not working correctly.
> 
> Another explanation is that the woman is a loon.


Quite. My point exactly.

The only thing we appear to differ on is whether the possibility of her being a loon is an excuse for us to point and laugh, or to show some concern...


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## zenie (Mar 9, 2010)

Who's to say she's a loon though? Only you, some people are bulllshitting idiots, doesn't mean they're mentally ill and you're a bit off to keep saying that's what it must be.


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## existentialist (Mar 9, 2010)

zenie said:


> Who's to say she's a loon though? Only you, some people are bulllshitting idiots, doesn't mean they're mentally ill and you're a bit off to keep saying that's what it must be.



Hey, easy, tiger. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that it's another possibility that needs to be considered, so before we all rush off down the condemnatory road, we should perhaps give a bit of thought to it.

Perhaps she is just a horrible old cow who takes pleasure in causing trouble for other people, yes. But if I were going to be wrong about it, I know which way round I'd prefer to be wrong. Blame it on the yogurt-knitting


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