A BUS company has launched an investigation after a disabled woman claimed she was humiliated by a driver.

Partially-sighted Josie

Lawson says she was rudely questioned by a driver over why she had used a free bus pass for blind passengers after he saw her reading a newspaper.

After boarding the Stagecoach bus in Hastings Josie, who is registered partially blind, hearing impaired and disabled, showed her pass and sat down to read her paper.

But within seconds she says the driver started shouting and summoned her to the front to explain how she could read if she was blind.

Furious Josie, 51, said she was forced to explain her condition before the driver would let her return to her seat under the gaze of other curious passengers.

She said: "I was left feeling angry and embarrassed. Being partially-sighted does not mean I cannot read. I suffer from various conditions including tunnel vision and growing cataracts but on a good day I can read large text.

"The driver made me feel as though I was in the wrong. As though I was making up my disability just to get a free bus ride."

She added: "The driver was not subtle. He spoke very loudly so all the other passengers could hear. I felt like a criminal."

Josie, of Stonehouse Drive, St Leonards, suffers from Menieres Disease which effects the eyes and ears and has undergone three eye operations to treat acute glaucoma.

She carries a council concessionary card and a blue partially-sighted registered card issued by social services.

She has written to Stagecoach demanding action be taken to ensure other disabled people are not humiliated in the same way.

Jeremy Betts, assistant operations manger of Stagecoach, said he was very concerned about the allegations.

He said: "I have asked Ms Lawson to write to me with details of the number of the bus and the time of her journey.

"As soon as I have those details I will make further inquiries into the alleged appalling behaviour of a driver."

A spokesman for East Sussex Disability Association said: "Just because a driver can't see a hearing aid or a white stick it does not mean they have the right to question a

customer about their honesty in an open and public situation."

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