A CWMBRAN wheelchair-user who was told she must travel backwards on buses for health and safety reasons, says she feels discriminated against because of her disability.

Gweneth Little, 57, of St Dials, says she has travelled sideways in her wheelchair on Stagecoach buses without any problems for five years.

But on Monday she claims a driver on the 151 route from Newport to Crosskeys told her she had to position her wheelchair to face the back of the bus, to prevent the chair from shooting forward in the event of an emergency break.

Mrs Little, who has used a wheelchair for the past five years due to spinal problems caused by having Polio as a child, explained that she gets travel sick when travelling backwards and claims the driver responded by saying if that was the case she shouldn’t travel on buses at all.

The mother-of-one said she had no other choice but to get out of her wheelchair and sit on a seat with her wheelchair, which cannot be collapsed, next to her taking up the space of two other seats.

Mrs Little catches six buses a day to get to and from Coleg Gwent’s Cross Keys where she is studying for a national diploma in 3D craft design.

She has only 12 weeks left of the two-year course but fears she will have to give it up if she cannot use the bus.

She said: “It’s health and safety gone too far. They are not thinking about my health. It is discrimination against the disabled.”

Stagecoach commercial director, Richard Davies, said the Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations introduced in 2001 state that anyone travelling in a wheelchair facing the front of the bus must be strapped in using restraints to prevent the chair moving.

If buses do not have restraints, wheelchair users must travel backwards with the back of the chair against a backrest to prevent it from shooting forward.

Mr Davies said: “Unfortunately for five years our drivers have been letting her do something that they should not be allowing her to do.”

“It is not legal and it is not safe,” he said.

Mr Davies added that all staff are given disability awareness training and said he intended to meet Mrs Little to explain the situation.