A CEREBRAL palsy sufferer had to get off an Arriva bus after the driver refused to help him clear the disabled area.

Andrew Cheape and his partner Amanda Chambers, got on bus number 7 on Stockton High Street and found the wheelchair bay had a pram in it.

They asked the driver to request the pram owner to move it but said he refused.

Ms Chambers, from Fairfield, Stockton, said: "We then asked the man with the pram if he would move it. He eventually agreed but other passengers on board refused to move seats to allow him to do so, although other seats were available.

"The driver didn't help with any of this before saying he wouldn't wait any longer."

The couple had to take the wheelchair and work their way past the queue to get off the bus before going to the Arriva office to lodge a formal complaint.

Ms Chambers said: "We usually travel by Stagecoach bus and they are much better. We only once had an old double decker and we couldn't get on. The Stagecoach manager got back to us within a couple of hours to apologise.

"We haven't heard anything from Arriva and it was almost two weeks ago."

Mr Cheape said: "It is clear that there are still a number of drivers with poor attitudes leading to incidents which are distressing, embarrassing and unnecessary involving people with mobility problems."

Nick Knox, area managing director for Arriva North East said: “We are very sorry to hear of the issues that Mr Cheape experienced on one of our buses and we would like to assure him we take incidents like this very seriously. We are conducting an internal investigation and once this has been completed we will be in contact with him directly.”