Wheelchair user's video goes viral after bus driver refuses to lower ramp for him

A young disabled man's Facebook complaint about a bus driver he says refused to lower a ramp for him has gone viral.

Wheelchair user Christopher Browne, from Kirkby , said he was getting the bus home from work at Alder Hey Hospital on Saturday and asked the driver of the Arriva service if he could use the ramp to get on the bus.

Christopher, 21, who has cerebral palsy, said: "I asked for the ramp, but he refused to get it out. I had to then risk my health and safety to get on the bus and getting off it without the ramp.

"He didn't really give a reason why he didn't get the ramp down.

"He just pulled the bus closer and said, 'You can get on that' and wasn't very pleasant at all.

"To be honest, it left me very scared and upset about getting on and off the bus."

Christopher posted a video on Facebook explaining what happened to him on the number 61 service.

Christopher Browne, aged 21

The video has been viewed 45,000 times and shared 1,500 times since it was posted on July 2.

Arriva North West said they had seen the video and are looking into what happened.

Christopher said this isn't the first time this has happened. He has suffered similar situations with other bus companies and heard of the same thing happening to other people.

He told the ECHO: "I have complained about it before, but this time I didn't want to follow normal protocol.

"I thought I am going to put it out there because there might be other people who it has happened to and they may not be able to speak up.

"I am used to this sort of behaviour now, but I am so happy about the support from the community for the video."

Christopher said he spoke to a local councillor about what happened and they have since been in contact with Arriva.

X Factor's Chico signing clocks with Christopher Browne, then aged 11, from Kirkby & play specialist Pat Devine, 2005

A spokesperson for Arriva North West said: "We are aware of the video, but unfortunately there's no way of knowing when the video took place.

"Obviously, we are taking this very seriously and at the minute we are making every attempt to get in touch with the person involved.

"We can't do much more until we get the specifics of the timings so once we get in touch with those involved we can look into this further."