Brightlingsea - St Osyth - East Mersea Ferry.

DavidofMersea

DavidofMersea

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We went on the ferry to day from B'sea to East Mersea via St Osyth. When we got on the ferry there was us two, a cyclist and 6 teenage spastic boys with two minders - 11 people in all. When we sat down the driver told the Spastic party (Who only wanted to go to St Osyth) they could not come on this trip and they would have to wait for the next ferry. I could not quite catch the reason he gave them, but I heard him say there might be other people who wanted to come on the ferry - and this sounded like an anti spastic move. Whilst these lads had limited control of their arms, and they made odd noises, they were no danger to anybody and responded when the minder told them to move up a bit

Has anybody else had anything like this from the ferryman?
 
DavidofMersea said:
We went on the ferry to day from B'sea to East Mersea via St Osyth. When we got on the ferry there was us two, a cyclist and 6 teenage spastic boys with two minders - 11 people in all. When we sat down the driver told the Spastic party (Who only wanted to go to St Osyth) they could not come on this trip and they would have to wait for the next ferry. I could not quite catch the reason he gave them, but I heard him say there might be other people who wanted to come on the ferry - and this sounded like an anti spastic move. Whilst these lads had limited control of their arms, and they made odd noises, they were no danger to anybody and responded when the minder told them to move up a bit

Has anybody else had anything like this from the ferryman?
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David: you are so out of touch it is frightening.

Perhaps you could enlighten us by explaining your use of the word 'spastic'. Ignorance is no defence, btw.
 
He may be using the wrong word but he isn't using it in a derogatory way and is actually sticking up for the people concerned.
 
It's PC gone mad! It's only the UK in which some delicate people view the word "spastic" as derogatory. If it's such a taboo term, how come the medical profession continues to use it?
 
Back to the point raised about people being refused uwe of ferries, we cycled down to Shotley with the intention of catching the ferry to Felixstowe and then cycling home from there. We were told that the ferry couldn't take us as it had already taken people from Felixstowe to Harwich who had booked a return and there wouldn't be enough room for us and them on the leg to Felixstowe.
 
wingdiver said:
Back to the point raised about people being refused uwe of ferries, we cycled down to Shotley with the intention of catching the ferry to Felixstowe and then cycling home from there. We were told that the ferry couldn't take us as it had already taken people from Felixstowe to Harwich who had booked a return and there wouldn't be enough room for us and them on the leg to Felixstowe.
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The ferry will probably be licensed for a maximum number of people, so their attitude seems reasonable. If you'd been the people in Harwich with pre-booked returns, would you have been happy to be told there was no space for you?
 
pvb said:
The ferry will probably be licensed for a maximum number of people, so their attitude seems reasonable. If you'd been the people in Harwich with pre-booked returns, would you have been happy to be told there was no space for you?
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The B'sea - St Oysth - Mersea ferry is licensed to carry 12 people. The "disabled" lads wanted to just do the first leg of this journey from B'sea to St Oysth - and the ferry went across with just SWMBO and I and a cyclist, leaving the "Disabled" people in B'sea
 
and my post was a suggested reason why this particular ferry possibly couldn't take everyone despite not being full - ie that there were returnees waiting to be collected.as was the case with us. Obviously didn't make that clear hence pvb's response.
 
pvb said:
It's PC gone mad! It's only the UK in which some delicate people view the word "spastic" as derogatory. If it's such a taboo term, how come the medical profession continues to use it?
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The term has a specific meaning in medicine, referring to muscle tone. It is used usually in "spastic paralysis" to distinguish it from "flaccid paralysis". I think David was just being careless. Unfortunately, every euphemism eventually bees derogatory, such as "cripple" or "Mongol" which my very PC iPad won't let me even write without a capital.
 
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