Child with severe disabilities denied access to bus after passengers refuse to move prams

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In 2014, Doug Paulley, a wheelchair user from Wetherby in Yorkshire, was awarded £5,500 in damages after he was denied access to a bus when a woman with a sleeping baby refused to move. Leeds County Court ruled that the First bus group’s policy of “requesting but not requiring” non-disabled bus passengers to vacate the space if needed by a wheelchair user was discriminatory. This means that it is still within a bus company’s legal right to refuse access to a disabled passenger, as long as the driver takes “all reasonable steps short of compelling passengers to move from the wheelchair space.” Mr Paulley has launched a new appeal against First Group which will be heard on 15 June.