A MUf-two confined to a wheelchair today spoke out to highlight the difficulties for disabled people travelling on buses.

But Michael Morton, the managing director of Blackburn Transport, reassured Anne Ashton, 43, of Hurtwood Avenue, Mill Hill, that the problems had been rectified after the completion of maintenance work on several low-floor buses.

Anne told how she was regularly waiting up to an hour-and-a-half for a wheelchair-friendly bus on Route 22 to take her into Blackburn town centre from the Brothers Street stop near her home.

During that time, she added, several buses had called at her stop that she was unable to get on because their entrances only had steps.

She said this inconvenience left her frustrated and late for appointments.

Anne, a single mum who has an 18-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, is awaiting a date for an operation to repair a slipped disc in her back.

She was injured three years ago and was able to walk with a stick until the condition worsened after a car crash 18 months ago. Anne said she had been shocked to find how difficult it was to travel around in a wheelchair.

She added: "I have been sat at a bus stop for an hour-and-a-half, sometimes it is pouring with rain and there is not one bus I can get onto as they all have steps.

"Last week I had five buses go past before I could get on one. You feel silly when you are left at the bus stop.

"I have to use buses as much as three or four times a week and usually have to wait. It is very frustrating, especially when I have to be in town for an appointment.

"They need to put more buses that disabled people can catch on the route."

A quarter of Blackburn Transport's 100-strong fleet are 'wheelchair-friendly' after a £500,000 investment bought an extra six buses earlier this year.

Mr Morton added: "We are currently going through a product recall where the buses are having modifications to their fuel systems.

"This has meant that on any given day we have had three or four buses out of service. However, this work is now done so things should return to normal.

"The 22 bus service in Mill Hill should normally all be low-floor buses."

Blackburn-based Catch-Me-Bus.Com Ltd has eight super low-level buses out of a fleet of 48, said its managing director Suzanne Bailey.

Lancashire Utd runs 27 buses which lower for wheelchair access, with 23 of those having automatic ramp chutes. They have a total fleet of 46.

Norma Farmer, secretary of Inskip League of Friendship for Disabled Persons, based in Accrington, said: "From my experience as far as bus companies are concerned they can be very helpful to disabled people.

"Most companies do have some low-level buses but not all of them are low-level and this can cause problems."