Law:

Section:

(a) Discrimination-------Disabled person---Wheelchair user---Policy of bus company for wheelchair users---Legality---Claim for damages---Notice on bus referring to seats reserved for wheel chair users---Scope and enforcement---Steps to be taken by bus drivers to enforce policy for wheelchair users---Claimant, who was a wheelchair user was unable to board a bus because space allocated on the bus for wheelchair users was occupied by a non-wheelchair user who refused to move---Policy of bus company was that its drivers could merely request non-wheelchair user to vacate space reserved for wheelchair users---Questions as to whether bus company had breached its duty by not 'requiring' the non-wheelchair user to vacate the reserved space; whether bus company discriminated against the claimant, and whether claimant should be awarded damages---[Per Lord Neuberger:] Under S. 29 of the Equality Act, 2010, the bus company must not discriminate against a person requiring its services by not providing the person with the service, and it must make "reasonable adjustments" to avoid substantial disadvantage to disabled persons---Duty to provide 'reasonable adjustments' did not require as absolute rule/policy that any non-wheelchair user must vacate a wheelchair space or, get off a bus, or a qualified rule, that any non-wheelchair user must vacate a space if it was reasonable---Requiring the bus company to use more emphatic language in the notice was unreasonable as there was no real prospect that it would have made any difference and research suggested that polite notices were more successful---Nevertheless, it was not enough for the bus company to instruct its drivers simply to request non-wheelchair users to vacate the space and do nothing further if the request was rejected---Where the driver concluded that a refusal was unreasonable, he should consider some further step to pressurise the non-wheelchair user to vacate the space, depending on the circumstances, such as rephrasing the request as a requirement or even a refusal to drive on for several minutes---Any approach adopted should however avoid confrontation---Award of damages to the claimant was not possible in the…