Mum fuming after bus driver leaves disabled daughter out in cold

A pensioner with a disabled daughter is furious after a bus driver left them out in the cold to give priority to mums with pushchairs.

Tammy Chapman and mum Janet, who is not happy with the way they were treated by a park-and-ride bus driver

Janet Chapman, 61, was with her daughter Tammy, 23, who has Down’s syndrome and was in a wheelchair, at Babraham Road park and ride in Cambridge.

But when they tried to get on a bus, the space designated for disabled people was taken up with pushchairs. When she and her other daughter Jamie, 24, asked the Stagecoach driver if he could move them along or get the mums to fold the buggies, he refused.

Mrs Chapman, of Huntingdon Road, Sawston, has now received an apology from Stagecoach bosses but is not satisfied with the response and accused the other mums of selfishness.

She said: “I got to the bus with my two daughters in good time to go to a dentist’s appointment. The bus was full and the space for wheelchairs was taken up by mums with pushchairs despite it categorically stating on the sign it was for disabled passengers.

“The bus driver wouldn’t let me on so I went to the office. I was really furious. It was freezing cold. I got a letter of apology from Stagecoach saying it was at the driver’s discretion but that he should have let me on.

“I don’t know why the mums just couldn’t fold up the buggies.

“Mums with buggies take up disabled parking spaces and now they are taking up spaces on buses for the disabled. It is selfish and discourteous.

“It is not easy having a disabled child and trying to use public transport with a wheelchair and they should have a bit more understanding.”

Andy Campbell, Stagecoach East managing director, said: “The situation was that the buggies were already on the vehicle before the lady came with the wheelchair.

“The driver can only ask the mothers to fold the pushchairs and if they refuse to do that there is not a lot the driver can do.

“We would hope that the mothers with pushchairs would appreciate the difficulties faced by someone in a wheelchair.”

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