A WHEELCHAIR user was left unable to board a National Express coach in Bournemouth on Saturday morning after getting stuck on a passenger lift for up to an hour.

The woman was trying to board the coach at Bournemouth bus station when the incident happened.

The bus was en-route to London Victoria.

Later, National Express made arrangements for an accessible taxi so the woman was able to travel to her destination.

Sam Adams, who had boarded the bus with his partner at Poole earlier in the journey, said: “I was on the bus and there was a massive kerfuffle. The driver said he wasn’t aware that there was a disabled person getting on but she had a ticket and he had to move two chairs.”

He said after the chairs were moved, the woman tried to board the coach using the passenger lift at the front entrance.

However, it experienced a problem which resulted in the woman being stuck off the ground.

Sam said: “When he did manage to move them, they had to get her on using the lift and the lift was going up but she got stuck for around 45 minutes to an hour.”

He said technicians were then called out who managed to get the lift back down again, but it is understood the woman did not then board the coach at Bournemouth.

A National Express spokesperson said: "We take our commitment to accessible travel very seriously and our fleet is currently over 99% accessible to passengers with reduced mobility.

“Unfortunately a rare technical fault on the wheelchair lift of an 035 service to London resulted in a customer becoming stuck on Saturday morning."

They added: "We have apologised to the customer concerned and although far from ideal, we are however pleased to note that staff worked as quickly as possible to resolve the fault and were able to make arrangements to ensure the customer could travel to her destination."

The spokesperson said National Express had paid for an accessible taxi for the woman.