HAMPSHIRE toddler Courtney White is disabled - but try telling that to the bus drivers of Southampton.

Courtney's mum Clare has hit out at bus drivers in the city after continually being refused a ride because they don't believe her daughter is disabled.

She claims this week she was told by four drivers she could not travel on their buses because two-year-old Courtney's pushchair is too big and they did not believe it was a special disabled buggy.

But bus bosses say there is only limited space for wheelchairs and pushchairs on board and gangways have to be kept clear because of passenger safety.

Clare, 24, said: "It's just so frustrating. It feels like she's being victimised all the time for being in a different kind of wheelchair, because although she doesn't look disabled she is."

Clare says her latest ordeal started when she tried to catch a Solent Blue Line bus from her home in Irving Road, Maybush, Southampton, to get to the General Hospital.

Courtney, who has cerebral palsy, can't walk and attends the hospital's Wordsworth House for physiotherapy, occupational and speech and language therapy.

Clare said: "The bus driver wouldn't let me on because Courtney's pushchair was too big. I told him it was a disabled pushchair but he didn't believe me and said if she was in a wheelchair he would believe she's disabled."

Clare says she then tried twice to catch a First Southampton bus from Shirley High Street but was told Courtney's pushchair was too big.

She said: "The driver let me get on the bus and then told me to get off because Courtney's pushchair was overhanging the gangway too much."

An hour after leaving home, Clare finally managed to catch a First Southampton bus to the hospital.

At 5.45pm she tried to catch the 17a First Southampton bus from the hospital to Maybush, but was again told Courtney's pushchair was too big.

Clare, a part-time waitress, said: "Another lady with her son in a small wheelchair got on the bus but the driver said he was only insured to take so many passengers so I couldn't go on. He then shut the door and drove off."

Clare says she had to walk for 15 minutes to her parents' house because she didn't want to wait in the dark for the next bus.

Solent Blue Line commercial manager Phillip Curtis said the company was investigating.

"We try to accommodate pushchairs within the special space in the low floor buses but if that's already occupied we would ask pushchairs to be folded," he said. "Of course in this lady's case I understand that because it was a disabled pushchair that wasn't possible."

First Southampton spokeswoman Patricia Gray sympathised and said 53 per cent of all First buses in the city can accommodate one wheelchair user.

She added: "In order to ensure the safety of all our passengers, our drivers are responsible for ensuring that no items are allowed to protrude into the aisles. If the one allocated space is already occupied, any subsequent customers with a wheelchair or pushchair will only be able to travel on that vehicle if they are able to collapse and stow the item concerned."

Ruth Scott from cerebral palsy charity Scope said: "The bus companies should be educating their staff to respect disabled people and ensure they can use their services in the same way as everybody else."