Any mum who has travelled on public service with a baby and all the gear that goes with him or her will know that it can be a physical and mental challenge – which is why we need all of the help we can get.
Sadly for mum Tatiana Novaes Coelho, she was left hanging recently while travelling in London’s Underground when a Tube worker refused to help her carry her heavy buggy down a flight of stairs.
Ms Coelho told the Evening Standard that she was at Barbican station when the incident occurred and she found herself needing a little help carrying the buggy – containing her five-and-a-half-month old daughter – down to the platform. When she asked a male employee for help however, he refused.
She recalled: “He was extremely rude and I just couldn’t believe it. I said to him, ‘Can you help me down the stairs?’ He said, ‘No, I am not paid for this. I am not a hauler.’”
The 40-year-old was then forced to carry the heavy buggy down the stairs herself.
Branding the Transport for London service as ‘disgraceful’, Ms Coelho said that her experience has added insult to injury, considering that many stations don’t have lifts for those with buggies and wheelchairs.
A representative from London Underground has since apologised and assured Ms Coelho that an investigation will be taking place.
