Human rights tribunal to hear North Vancouver bus rider's complaint

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has accepted the case of a North Vancouver man who says a bus driver discriminated against him by refusing to lower the bus to the sidewalk when he requested it.

Tom Wright filed a complaint with the tribunal saying he was discriminated against by the Coast Mountain Bus Company and bus driver Wendy Ratcliffe in February and March of last year when Ratcliffe refused to accommodate his disability by lowering the bus.

Wright, who is in his 50s, describes his disability as plantar fasciitis - which causes pain and swelling in the foot - although he acknowledged in his complaint he "may not look like the stereotype of a man with a disability."

In his complaint, Wright said on Feb. 15 he was waiting for the bus at 13th and Lonsdale just before noon and asked the driver to lower the automated ramp so he could get on with a handcart containing groceries. Wright said the driver - Ratcliffe - refused, telling him he should either get on or wait for another bus. After another passenger helped him on, Wright said the driver asked him sarcastically "How hard was that?" and called him an idiot.

When the bus arrived at Phibbs exchange, Wright said the driver ordered him to get off the bus by the rear doors and physically shoved him. Wright told the tribunal he was shamed and traumatized by the events and complained to Ratcliffe's supervisor. But the supervisor was unsympathetic, Wright told the tribunal in his complaint, pointing out that Ratcliffe is a woman. Wright said the supervisor implied it was OK for her to shove him because he is a man.

On March 8, Wright said he was again waiting for the bus at midday at Lonsdale and Keith when Ratcliffe was driving the bus on that route. He again asked Ratcliffe twice

to lower the bus. She refused and drove away, leaving him at the stop, he said.

According to the bus company, Ratcliffe is a driver with close to 40 years experience. Prior to the exchanges with Wright, the bus company said Ratcliffe had been warned by others that Wright didn't have a disability, but was a frequent nuisance passenger.

Just before she pulled up to the stop, Ratcliffe said she saw Wright aggressively make his way to the front of a line of waiting passengers, she told to tribunal in an affidavit. When he got on the bus, Wright was "loud and abusive and swore" Ratcliffe stated - a claim Wright denied.

The bus company told the tribunal it is policy for drivers to lower the bus

when asked, regardless of whether the driver believes the passenger has a disability. The company said Ratcliffe was reminded of that after Wright complained.

But the company added the ramp does not line up properly at that particular stop.

Following the March incident, Ratcliffe reported what had happened to her supervisor, adding a friend of Wright's had told

her he is not disabled and only asked her to lower the ramp to annoy her.

Both the bus company and Ratcliffe denied discriminating against Wright and urged the tribunal to dismiss the complaint.

But adjudicator Robert Blasina refused, saying since there are "significant differences in the parties' versions of events" a hearing may be required to sort them out.