Mother-of-three Sharon Tasker claims she can no longer take her disabled children on city buses since the operator banned double buggies.

She is the latest victim of new Government rules aimed at helping disabled people use public transport but instead appears to be hindering both them and parents with buggies.

Miss Tasker's two-and-a-half-year-old twin daughters, Orlanda and Marissa, have cerebral palsy and have to travel in a special double buggy which can no longer be carried on buses.

Although some of the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company fleet of low-floor buses have been designed for use by wheelchairs, Miss Tasker cannot use them.

Rules created by the Disability Discrimination Act state only one wheelchair can be carried at a time, near a grabpole in the gangway at the front of the bus.

The pole's location means some wheelchairs and double buggies cannot be manoeuvred on to the vehicle.

Miss Tasker, of Scarborough Road, Brighton, has written to buses' boss Roger French.

He sympathised but said he was unable to change national regulations.

Miss Tasker, 33, who also has a ten-year-old son, said: "It is just so hard.

"We've missed hospital appointments because we've found we can't get on the bus and when I've called for a special taxi, the double buggy won't fit in so they can't take me either.

"Now I find myself in a situation of not being able to use any public transport."

Critics of the new rules include Mr French.

He said: "The problem is the bureaucrats who dreamt up these new rules didn't appreciate this pole prevents double buggies getting past and makes it much harder for wheelchair users to get to their designated space.

"The new rules don't make sense and end up pleasing no one."