A MOTHER  wants bus drivers to know the struggles of travelling with a puschair after a "stern" driver refused to allow her to board.  

Helen O’Grady, 36, got on the 97 bus at Vicarage Road in Leyton on the afternoon of Saturday, March 25 with her two-year-old daughter Monroe.

She claims the driver told her a ”new law which says people before buggies” was in effect.

But Ms O’Grady, who recently moved to Waltham Forest, says there were no buggies or wheelchairs on the bus and there were free seats at the rear.

She said: “When the doors opened the bus driver shouted ‘no buggies allowed, sorry, there’s no space’. I said, what if I fold the buggy and he said that’s fine so I did and we got on the bus.

“He said there was a new law that said people before buggies. He came across very stern.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Ms O'Grady with her two-year-old daughter Monroe.

“I had to stand right at the front of the bus with a crowd of people and I was struggling to hold onto my child, the buggy and the handrail.

“I was afraid for my daughter so I looked around to find a seat and there was space. There were no prams or wheelchairs in the area for them and so I put my buggy there and sat down.

“I could hear him talking to people standing up the front about the new law so I researched it on my phone and couldn’t find anything.”

In January a landmark ruling at the Supreme Court said wheelchair users should be given priority over parents with buggies.

There is no law stating people should be given preference over buggies when boarding a bus.

But in this instance, there were no puschairs on the bus.

Ms O’Grady, who also has an 11-year-old son, claims the driver refused to let another mother board the bus because she wouldn’t fold her buggy.

Ms O’Grady decided to confront the driver and film him on her phone. In the video he admits to refusing to let a buggy on the bus when there were no other buggies or wheelchairs on board.

She added: “It’s not his bus, it’s a public place and we pay to be there.

“I’m 36 but I look like I’m in my 20s and I felt like he judged me. He spoke to me like my father would speak to me and it was very intimidating.

“He was very stern and came across as aggressive and I felt embarrassed.

"I would like him to be told and made aware of the struggles people with prams face, and not make up his own rules.

"TfL have rung me and confirmed he shouldn't have done this.”

The bus Ms O’Grady travelled on is run by Stagecoach on behalf of Transport for London.

A spokesman for TfL said it has no policy stating people should be given preference over buggies on buses.

A spokesman for Stagecoach said: "Our drivers are trained to make judgements in certain circumstances. This can involve, at times, when allowing buggy users to board the bus at busy periods.

“The CCTV shows that the vehicle on this occasion was full of customers.

“We have been in direct contact with the travelling customer involved and will be speaking to the driver to see if any lessons can be learned from this situation."