MY TEENAGE daughter and I had a lovely day out at The Clothes Show Live in Birmingham last weekend.

As well as shopping till we dropped at the fashion stalls, there was a fabulous live fashion show and we saw Peter Andre, vlogger Alfie Deyes (we later bumped into him coming out of M&S at Brighton train station and he smiled at my daughter), model Millie Mackintosh, Joey Essex and Zandra Rhodes.

By the end of the day my feet absolutely killed me – exacerbated by the huge number of flights of stairs we had to negotiate to get through London’s main line and underground train stations. I remember saying to my daughter I couldn’t imagine how disabled people cope with getting around on public transport in London – and now I read how Raymond Knight, who is in a wheelchair and needs a mobility scooter, feels “trapped” in his flat in Brighton because selfish drivers block him in.

They park across the door of his car port in Francis Street, making it impossible for him to access his scooter and electric wheelchair even though he lives in a newly built disability friendly flat.

He says, “There are six disabled people in the flats but we can’t go anywhere if cars block us in. I feel trapped.”

He may not be the only one feeling trapped. A judge ruled recently that bus companies are not required by law to force people with buggies to make way for wheelchair users in special bays on buses.

I can’t tell you how wrong I think this is. Disabled people cannot get out of their wheelchairs whereas parents can take their child or children out of a pushchair, fold it up and sit on an ordinary bus seat if necessary.

Difficult, I grant you, and as a mother of three, I have experienced this, but I have also experienced temporary disability and my sympathies lie fully with people with limited or no mobility.

Back when I was five months pregnant with my now 16-year-old daughter, I stepped off a high kerb and felt an incredibly sharp pain, which stabbed with every step I took.

It was the beginning of symphysis pubic dysfunction, a misalignment of the pelvis caused by the surge of pregnancy hormones, which I suffered throughout each of my pregnancies and beyond – I’m one of the unfortunate 7% of sufferers whose condition persists, and still continues today.

For long periods of time, it severely limited my movements, and my life – during a certain period of time, the only time I got out of the house was once a week on Saturdays when my husband would manoeuvre me into the car, followed by our three young children and my wheelchair, and go on a long drive along the coast to enjoy the view and then to a lovely restaurant in Seaford.

But I’m lucky – my condition is on-off and is now treated with an annual injection of painkilling steroids in to my spine.

It’s easy to take our mobility for granted, while for disabled people every trip out is an achievement and may be fraught with obstacles.

Perhaps if I hadn’t suffered temporary disability myself I may never have understood how important it is for disabled people to be able to get out and about freely.

I hope Mr Knight and his neighbours can get help with their access problems very quickly and I would urge all drivers to be far more considerate about where they’re parking.

They should thank their lucky stars they are not confined to a wheelchair.