THE husband of a disabled woman has slammed a bus company after the couple were repeatedly left on the pavement.

David and Janet Jakeman have used First York's buses more often in the past year since Mrs Jakeman's arthritis worsened and she was forced to use a wheelchair.

Mr Jakeman claims they have been refused access because pushchairs are already occupying designated wheelchair areas, dealt with frustrated drivers when they request a ramp to be lowered, and missed three buses in a row when they were too full to accept them.

He said: "We have been refused access to buses on numerous occasions because they say they have buggies on, but I've seen empty buggies and children on their parent's knee.

"They've got a ramp that lowers down and when I asked them to drop it a lot of them are very indifferent and don't like doing it.

"Three times in one morning we were refused access because of buggies.

"They can be folded up and put on racks, but a wheelchair can't be.

"It upsets my wife. It's embarrassing enough for her being in the wheelchair and this makes it worse to the point where she refuses to go out."

Mr Jakeman, of Murray Street, Acomb, says the couple have had to find alternative bus routes into the city-centre, and have taken to riding the Number 59 Park and Ride Service because it is quieter.

He added: "It gets so frustrating and annoying, my wife dreads going out."

A spokesman for First York buses said: "We have invested heavily in new buses to make the fleet more accessible in York.

"We have areas on the vehicles that we chose as a wheelchair priority area and it's designated for customers in wheelchairs and is also used by customers with pushchairs.

"If there's a situation where a customer is using that with a pushchair, our driving staff are trained to ask the customer to fold it down.

"If that doesn't occur we would like to know so we can speak to our drivers to remind them of this specific requirement."