A DAD in Oxford says he is hoping a ruling by the Supreme Court will today end "unpleasant confrontations" on the bus between wheelchair users and parents with baby buggies.

Andrew Chesterman, from Wingate Close in Blackbird Leys, says the decision will affect the way all wheerchair users travel in the future, including his eight-year-old daughter Ecsenia.

He said: "It is my daughter's future I am thinking about.

"Being in a wheelchair can be isolating and not being able to get on a bus could make it difficult for her to have a social life and mean she will miss appointments."

The question whether wheelchair users should have priority on buses over mothers with the buggies is to be considered by the highest court in the land, following a decision by the Court of Appeal that a mother was within her rights when she occupied the reserved space also used by disabled travellers.

That was a defeat for wheelchair user Doug Paulley, from West Yorkshire, but he has been granted permission to continue his legal battle because it raises issues of public importance.

Mr Paulley attempted to board a bus operated by FirstGroup which had a sign saying "please give up this space if needed for a wheelchair user" but was left behind at the stop because a woman with a sleeping baby in a pushchair refused to move when asked by the bus driver, saying the buggy would not fold.

Mr Chesterman, 40, added: "There should always be a space for a disabled person, because you can't be sure when someone with a wheelchair will want to get on.

"I don't think people realise there is a buggy space and a wheelchair space already. 

"If they are not given that, my daughter could be left isolated and wouldn't be able to do basic things.

"You have to think, how would you feel if someone told you that you couldn't get on a bus?"

FirstGroup has a policy of ''requesting but not requiring'' non-disabled travellers, including those with babies and pushchairs, to vacate a disignated space on buses if it is needed by a wheelchair user.

But a judge at Leeds County Court ruled the policy was discriminatory and in breach of a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

Mr Paulley won £5,500 in damages against FirstGroup after Recorder Paul Isaacs said the company should have taken measures to ensure he was not at a disadvantage when he tried to get on the bus.

But that decision was overturned by the appeal court judges and the case will now be considered today by a panel of seven Supreme Court justices in London.