This afternoon, I was publicly denied a public service. A bus. Something we all use nearly every day to get around. I was denied for a simple reason; because I am disabled.

I was trying to get home from an appointment at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. I had been anxious in the run-up to the appointment, but after getting it done with, I was looking forward to getting back home. As I went to begin my journey, the driver of the First Bus Aberdeen 9U service refused to let me, a disabled person, on his bus.

His justification? An incorrect "opinion" that my valid National Entitlement Card (NEC) wasn't accepted on that route.

He wasn't just wrong. He was hostile. And his actions were not just poor service; they were discriminatory and illegal.

The Bus

Let me make this clear;

• the bus was visibly displaying the 9U Aberdeen University destination on it's front and side displays,

• the driver was accepting passengers who were not Students, Staff, or Visitors of the University of Aberdeen onto the service - if they weren't using an NEC card,

• there was zero signage about any restrictions to concessionary travel

This was a Publicly Scheduled Bus Service, that accepts members of the general public, who can board the service with a standard fare. It is therefore covered by the legislation on the NEC Validity.

I have recorded video of the incident, including the driver explicitly stating that he is refusing to allow me to board because I have a Disability Travel Entitlement Card, and that he accepts normal fare-paying members of the public.

I am choosing not to make this video public. My complaint is with First Bus's failure to train its staff and its dismissive response to a serious complaint.

My goal is to achieve corporate accountability and policy change, not to subject an individual driver to public harassment or doxxing.

When they go low, we go high.

The Insult: First Bus's Corporate Response

After being publicly humiliated, I filed a detailed, formal complaint. I expected First Bus to recognise the seriousness of an illegal act of discrimination.

Instead, I received this dismissive and insulting template response;

"I was sorry to read your comments..." "I have logged the incident and provided the local management team with all the information. They will review the incident as part of regular performance meetings..." "I am unable to disclose what would have been discussed..."

This is a disgrace.

My complaint is not "feedback." My report of an illegal act is not "comments." This is not an issue for a "regular performance meeting" - it is an urgent failure of legal and moral duty.

To be dismissed with a template is a second slap in the face. It shows that First Bus Aberdeen's corporate culture is one of indifference. They have failed twice: first, with a discriminatory driver, and second, with an insulting corporate brush-off.

I escalated. And this, this is where it goes from incompetence to malice. They scrambled. They went into full-on cover-up mode. Their new, official line? The 9U is a private "Shuttle Service" only for "staff, students and, on prior arrangement, visitors."

This is a direct contradiction of what their own driver said, and what the evidence shows.

First Bus is trying to change the system permissions after I've already gained access. They are retroactively re-classifying a public bus as "private" to find a loophole in the law and excuse their driver's discrimination.

So, which is it, First Bus? Is your driver lying to passengers at the stop? Or is your customer service department lying to me (and Transport Scotland) to cover your arse?

And to top it all off... they asked me to fill out a satisfaction survey. Again. The absolute cheek.

The National Sickness: This is Bigger Than First Bus

I am furious. I'm furious at the driver, I'm furious at the corporation, and I am utterly exhausted by a public transport system that, by design, treats me as a second-class citizen. This Isn't 'Bad Service'. It's a System Designed to Exclude Me and Other Disabled People like Me.

This isn't one "bad apple." This is a rotten orchard. The entire transport system in Scotland is built on the idea that disabled people are an afterthought.

Look no further than ScotRail.

As a disabled person, if I want to travel on a ScotRail train and require a dedicated wheelchair space, where do I go? Only in Standard Class.

Wheelchair space on our trains is restricted to Standard Class carriages [...] First Class areas don't have spaces for wheelchair users and there's no wheelchair access to accessible toilets from First Class.

ScotRail Accessible Travel Policy

Think about that. Our national rail service has an architecture of exclusion. They have made a design decision that disabled people are not entitled to the choice of First Class. Able-bodied passengers can pay for more comfort, more space, a quieter journey. I cannot.

It is not a problem with the trains themselves, LNER, Avanti West Coast, and many other operators across the UK are more than capable of welcoming disabled passengers in First Class.

That isn't an oversight. That is a policy that tells me, and every other disabled person, "You are a second-class citizen. You can ride our trains, but only here, where we've put you. You don't get the same choices as everyone else. You are not our equals"

This Is Our Fight

My humiliation on the 9U bus and ScotRail's discriminatory seating plan are not separate issues. They are two heads of the same monster: a transport system that views disabled people as a low-priority problem to be managed, not as equal customers to be served.

The driver's "opinion" that my card wasn't valid, the First Bus rep's "cover-up" that the bus is private, and the ScotRail executive's "policy" to bar me from First Class all come from the exact same place: a deep-seated belief that we are not equal.

This has to Stop.

Contact First Bus. Contact ScotRail. Contact your MSPs.

This is a national policy failure. Disabled people are not "comments" to be filed away. We are not second-class citizens. We are demanding the equal right to travel that is already supposed to be ours by law.

Thank you for reading this. I believe that a more accessible Scotland is possible. I'm not going to ask you to donate to anything or join any newsletters. Please, just write to the organisations above, and your MSPs. Together, change is achievable.

Credits:

• Photo of First Aberdeen bus 9U; Éimí Mhic an Ridire, CC-BY-SA, November 2025

• Button icons; emojis designed by OpenMoji – the open-source emoji and icon project. License: CC BY-SA 4.0

AI:

• AI was used on the photo of the bus to blur/remove the face of the driver to protect his identity.