A WOMAN has slammed a bus company after a driver refused to let her elderly disabled mum on to his vehicle with her wheelchair.

Janet Hamer and hubby Kevin, of Low View, Waterfoot, tried to board a Rossendale Transport mini-bus in Bacup town centre with Alice Maddock, 84, of Springfield Court, South Street, Bacup.

Janet said: "We folded the wheelchair ready to board. My mother had one foot on the step when the driver told her she could not get on with the wheelchair and we would have to wait for a Pilkington's bus.

"The wheelchair folds like a pram and I always carry it on to buses. I have never before had a problem.

"I reported the driver to the bus depot at Rawtenstall and somebody there told me that buses were for passengers, not wheelchairs

But Edgar Oldham, managing director of Rossendale Transport, has spoken to the driver and is happy with his explanation.

He said: "The mini bus had narrow steps and was awkward to board with a wheel chair.

"The Pilkington's bus, which pulled in behind shortly afterwards, had only one step and wider aisles and our driver felt it would be easier for the old lady to board."

But Mrs Hamer did not accept the explanation. "We often take my mother on Rossendale Transport and have never had a problem."

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