Daily commuters know that when it's rush hour or the subway train is jam packed, all seats are for everybody's taking, including the priority ones. One pregnant woman realizes that when, to her horror and embarrassment, a fellow Tube passenger asked her to prove she's pregnant and deserves to be in the priority seat even if she already had the Baby on Board badge.
Raayan Zafar, 32, is one of the upcoming mothers in London who just bought a Baby on Board badge from Transport for London. According to the website, the badge would inform the passengers the wearer has a "very good reason" to take the seat.
Zafar boarded the Victoria line in Stockwell in the morning of Wednesday, Oct 28. In her early months of pregnancy, she was suffering from a serious morning sickness, which was already under medication, and extremely tired and dizzy, she requested a man sitting on the priority seat if she could take his place.
The man was a "gentleman," she said, to have offered the seat for her. However, another woman, who's standing much closer to the man, decided to grab the now-vacant seat instead. Zafar then called the woman's attention by saying, "Excuse me."
It's at this time that another man, believed to be in his forties and was sitting beside the priority seat, started arguing with her, informing her that the other woman would like to take the seat. She then showed her badge, but to her surprise, the older man wanted her to prove that she was truly pregnant.
It's unclear whether she eventually got the seat, but Zafar narrated in several reports that she felt embarrassed over what happened. She reasoned whether she had to bring along her pregnancy notes to convince others that she was pregnant. Nevertheless, she believed that her experience wasn't an isolated case, which becomes more common during rush hour.
