Bus Éireann has apologised to a young man after he was left stranded at a bus stop in Co Louth as the vehicle was not wheelchair-accessible.
Wheelchair user Conor McAuley, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, had been out celebrating his mother's birthday with his family in Drogheda and were making their way home when the inaccessible bus pulled up to their stop.
Luckily, Conor's father had not been drinking and was able to take the bus home to Mornington, Co Meath before driving their accessible van back to Drogheda to collect the family who were waiting at the side of the road.
"We had been celebrating my Mam's 50th birthday on March 18th and were waiting at the bus stop for about 20 minutes when a non-accessible coach turned up and I couldn't get on.
"We were told we would have to walk to the main depot to see if there were any accessible buses that could bring us, which wasn't feasible."
"It's not the first time that this has happened. Normally I'm at a bus stop and an inaccessible coach will come along and won't even stop because they know I can't get on.
"We were having such a great time until this incident dampened the mood," Conor said.
"Bus Éireann should have accessible transport on all rural routes - it's not fair that mobility has to be an issue.
"People with mobility issues should be able to get on any bus like anyone else, without feeling embarrassed or that they are holding anyone up or to have fears that they will be left behind."
In as statement the company said: "Bus Éireann is very sorry to learn of the difficulties experienced by Conor McAuley in travelling with us earlier this month.
"The D1 route should have been served by an accessible vehicle, and all our town services are operated by fully accessible, low-floor vehicles.
"We have investigated this incident and unfortunately, this did not occur on that occasion for operational reasons, negatively impacting him and his family.
"We are focused on improving our services for people with disabilities and will look for solutions to prevent a recurrence of this situation."
