Disabled grandmother accuses coach firm of ‘discrimination’ after mobility scooter row

A disabled grandmother has accused a coach company of “discrimination” after they refused to allow her on the bus with her mobility scooter.

Lesley McMaster was travelling to visit her grandchildren when Nu-Venture staff told her she couldn’t get on the bus with the scooter.

The driver allegedly told her she was “too heavy” and that it was down to his discretion to let her on, while she was weighed down with shopping for her poorly daughter and grandchildren.

She was forced to drive 1.5 miles on the scooter – the size of a double buggy – in pouring rain.

Normally, the grandmother from Dartford in Kent said her daughter would pick her up, but the family were ill so she had to use public transport.

Due to a range of complex medical needs, 54-year-old Lesley uses a small shopper scooter to get around, for which she had an identification card.

To get from her home in Dartford to her grandchildren in Tovil, Lesley has to get three buses – the A or B bus for Bluewater to Chatham, the 101 from Chatham to Maidstone, then the 23 from Maidstone town centre to Tovil.

But she said Nu-Venture’s number 23 service would not let her on for the final stretch, despite having ramps that lower via a driver’s seat button.

She said it was not her first issue with the bus company. On another occasion a Nu-Venture ramp was broken, and though the driver was going to allow her to board, another passenger had to help her lift the scooter onto bus.

She said: “I often travel by bus either with my walking stick or my scooter. On this occasion I had to take shopping to my daughter’s house so I took my scooter with me. All of the buses I used in Dartford had no issue with my scooter whatsoever, however, the buses in Maidstone refused to let me on.

“They said it was too heavy and down to driver discretion if I was allowed on the bus.

“It’s discrimination, how else am I meant to get to Tovil if public transport wont allow me on? The weather was awful. I won’t be doing it again, but I chose the footpath that goes along the river and it was so muddy and slippery. Next time I will go along the roads instead, even though it is further to go.”

She praised the Arriva bus drivers who have to exit cab and put the ramp down manually. But Lesley said she has had other issues with Nu-Venture, despite their push-button system to lower the ramp from the driver’s seat.

She said: “The Arriva bus drivers are great, in order to help me on they actually have to leave the cab and physically put the ramp down. They never complain and are always happy to help. But Nu-Venture, who can lower their ramps with a button from their driver’s seat, just point blank refuse.

“The other day there was one driver from Nu-Venture who was going to allow me on the bus but the ramp was broken. Another passenger had to help me lift the scooter onto the bus.

“I really don’t understand why Nu-Venture are making such a fuss with this, it’s not a huge mobility scooter, it is the size of a double buggy.”

Nu-Venture said only wheelchair users are covered under the Equality Act, not people with mobility scooters.

A spokesperson for the firm said: “We welcome wheelchair users on all our buses. The equality legislation has, since 2017, required all buses used on local bus services to be wheelchair accessible.

“The legislative provision is for wheelchairs. Mobility scooters are much heavier and are not covered by the regulations. Drivers have no ‘discretion’ in the matter – they are required to follow the law in relation to this matter at all times.”

SWNS – Additional reporting by Megan Carr