Portsmouth bus driver refuses boarding for disabled girl and carer with seats available

Carer Tina Murphy said that she was ‘so angry’ at the treatment by the driver of the number 2 bus from College Park, Portsmouth to Gunwharf Quays.

Despite protesting that both disabled spaces were vacant, Tina was told by the driver that the bus was full.

‘I went to get on and he said ‘‘stop’’ and I asked why, and he said there was no space, bearing in mind I still had the person in the wheelchair with me.

Tina, 27, said: ‘I pointed out that there clearly was space but the driver said ‘‘no, I’m full’’, and shut the doors and drove off.

‘Every day I’m on the bus with a different disabled person and I have never had this problem before.’

Tina, a special needs carer and teaching assistant, was forced to explain to the 10-year-old girl that they had to wait for another bus, which arrived shortly after.

‘The driver on the following bus was lovely, but already the girl was quite distressed.

‘We spend over £100 a month on buses and you just expect standard customer service.

‘The way I took it was clearly discriminatory.’

A spokesperson from bus operator First Solent said: ‘We are extremely concerned about this incident which Ms Murphy has already reported to our customer services team. We will be carrying out a thorough investigation into the circumstances as this is certainly not the kind of behaviour we would expect of our drivers.’