A mum-of-five claims her severely disabled daughter was 'ridiculed' by a bus driver who tried to turf them out of the priority bay.
Charlotte Lara was travelling into Basildon town centre in Essex last Wednesday with her two-year-old Cassidy Lara, who has a rare genetic disorder.
Little Cassidy has Cornelia de Lange syndrome and needs round-the-clock care, as she is tube-fed, breathes through a tracheostomy and relies on a ventilator to take breaths for her when she's tired.
The mum said she and Cassidy boarded a First Bus into town with the buggy-style wheelchair, which also carries a ventilator, spare tracheostomy tubing, dilators and a suction machine.
Just three stops into the bus journey Charlotte, 34, claims the driver got out of his cab, turned to her and demanded she move saying 'you can move, there's a wheelchair that needs to come on'.
As Charlotte tried to explain that that Cassidy was in a wheelchair herself and she couldn't collapse or move it, she claims the driver rowed with her over it before shaking his head and walking away.
Full-time mum and carer Charlotte also alleges he made comments about her to other passengers getting on, refused to lower the bus when she got off and made jibes to passengers on her return journey.
First Essex apologised for any embarrassment and inconvenience caused and said it would investigate.
Charlotte said: "There were a lot of people on the bus, I was so embarrassed because everyone was looking at me and I could hear people whispering and tutting.
"When I replied and told him it was a wheelchair he basically called me a liar by turning round and saying 'not it's not, it's a buggy not a wheelchair'.
"This went on a few times back and forth, then he turned his back on me while I was talking, walked back into his cab and slammed the door - I was mortified.
"He then turned to the man outside waiting to get on the bus and told him 'I can't let you on the bus because that lady won't move'.
"It wasn't a case of I wouldn't move, I couldn't move."
"If I cram it in elsewhere, or have another buggy next to me, I physically can't get to Cassidy's life-saving equipment if she has a blockage, so I need to be in the wheelchair bay.
"The ventilation tubing goes straight into her trachea to help with her breathing - she can't be without that.
"If the tracheostomy blocks, I have cases underneath to do an emergency trachy change where I just have to drop her to the floor and change it otherwise she'll die.
"All that equipment is to save her life. She's had trachy blockages before and they're awful - she goes blue and can't breathe.
"I've got to try and get that tube out as quickly as I can and get another one in, it's frightening."
Embarrassed by the excruciating exchange, single mum Charlotte claims the driver got another dig in while letting a woman and pram onto the bus.
Charlotte said: "At the next stop a woman with a buggy wanted to come on and he told her she'd have to fold it down.
"When she mentioned she could fit on he said 'oh good because she ain't going to move' just to embarrass me more.
"I've never seen a buggy that looks like our chair and I certainly haven't felt one that weighs as much as it.
"He wouldn't even lower the bus for me to get off, I was told it was 'as low as it goes' and that was it.
"I know it wasn't because I've been on buses many a time so I had to get someone to help me lift the buggy off the bus. I was so embarrassed.
"When I got off I messaged my friend straight away nearly in tears because he made out I was being a bad person, which is not the case. I'm just trying to keep my daughter safe.
"I've always respected the wheelchair signs. I've always moved, I've always been the first one to get up and out of the way if anyone needed that space.
"I would collapse my pram down for all my previous kids but I can't do that now.
"She's entitled to that space and she needs it more so than most other people I'd imagine.
"It's not just that she can't just walk, it's that she needs life-saving breathing equipment."
After doing some shopping, Charlotte went to catch a bus for the return leg of her journey at 2.40pm.
She spotted the original driver having a cigarette near the bus she was due to board and nervously embarked while pushing Cassidy's wheelchair.
Charlotte, who is also mum to Meadow Lara, three, Ava Leigh Lara, seven, Kairen Lacy, 10, and Willow Lacy, 13, said: "It was a different bus driver this time but the other man was stood there having a fag right outside the door of he bus I was getting onto.
"I parked up in the wheelchair area and another woman went to get on with a buggy.
"He sarcastically said 'you ain't getting on there that's a wheelchair' and then pointed and laughed through the window.
"Then the driver on the bus looked around then started shaking his head as if to say 'that's not a wheelchair'. It was really embarrassing, it was just another knock."
Charlotte shared a picture of the bus driver online, blasting the 'vile' man.
Her post read: "Educate yourselves people, rather than ridiculing disabled children and making mothers feel they can't take their child out."
She added details about Cassidy's disabilities in the post: "She will always be like a child, she's more like a baby at the moment instead of a two-and-a-half-year-old.
"She also can't eat or drink and her esophageal flap isn't formed so everything she swallows goes straight into her lungs.
"She's got kidney failure, lung disease and tracheomalacia which means her airways are floppy which is why she has a machine that breathes for her."
Charlotte said she rarely goes out on public transport due to the amount of scrutiny she feels under by other passengers.
Charlotte said: "I don't go out very often. It takes me about 45 minutes to get everything ready and make sure that I've got everything. If I forget one thing her life is in danger.
"Then there's the risk of her needing a trach change or suction while out.
"It can also be quite uncomfortable dealing with the stares and whispers and then things like this - it sets my anxiety off big time.
It's definitely put me off getting a bus again, I don't want to have to get on one again unless I really have to.
"I want to try and learn to drive to save this sort of thing happening again.
"I would like to see the bus drivers trained to recognise wheelchairs for children that look like buggies."
Head of operations at First Essex, Paul Coyle, said: "I want to thank Charlotte for bringing this matter to my attention and apologise for any embarrassment and inconvenience experienced at the time of the alleged incident.
"This is certainly not the kind of service I would expect to be provided by one of our driving team in Essex. I will be undertaking an investigation into the circumstances raised and will correspond with Charlotte when the process is concluded."
