First Group plc v Paulley [2017]

This UK Supreme Court case will be of particular interest to those readers who work in transport or who specialise in equality matters. The case involved a wheelchair user who could not get on a bus because a woman with a sleeping baby in a buggy refused to vacate the space allocated for wheelchair users. The case was brought under the UK equivalent of equal status provisions and reasonable accommodation provisions in Irish law.

Mr Paulley, the appellant in this case, is a wheelchair user. He tried to get on a bus so he could catch a train to go onward and visit his parents. A woman with a sleeping child in a buggy was occupying the space reserved for wheelchair users. When asked to move by