IT'S the sort of free ride most of us dream of.

A national coach company has paid for an Oxford wheelchair user to take £800 worth of first class train journeys around the country because he can't use its vehicles.

National Express made the deal with Robert Light after he complained that his chair did not fit in the designated wheelchair space on its buses.

He arranged a meeting with company bosses last August to tell them they had to modify their fleet to obey UK disability discrimination laws.

But instead of being told the vehicles would be modified straight away, the company made him a specific, personal offer.

He says the head of the company promised to get buses refitted by January this year, and although this has now been delayed until September Mr Light is still taking first class journeys around the UK.

The 75-year-old, who lives at The Moores care home in Kidlington, said: "I travel in first class then send them the bill.

"Mostly I've been going to visit my friend in Yorkshire and those tickets are about £178 first class return."

Although it sounds like the perfect arrangement in some ways, veteran wheelchair rights campaigner Mr Light says it still amounts to discrimination.

The pensioner, who has previously taken Stagecoach bus company to court and received formal apologies for his treatment on Oxfordshire buses, said: "I want to be able to do things like anyone else but at the moment, even if I wanted to get on one of those coaches, I couldn't."

What's more, after he was told the estimated cost for the upgrade across the fleet is some £300,000, he believes National Express has little incentive to get the job done quickly, when he is costing them next to nothing in comparison.

He added: "They told me they would have sorted out the coaches in January but they haven't and I didn't think they'd do it.

"I think they're content to pay for me to travel First Class rather than upgrade the coaches."

Stagecoach apologised to Mr Light in 2014 after he was told he could not get on one of its buses because there were already two pushchairs and a shopping trolley on board.

He later tried to sue the company.

A National Express spokesman said: ''Mr Light brought to our attention that the particular type of wheelchair he uses would not fit on board a number of vehicles in our fleet.

"Although still compliant with the law we decided to deal with this issue and began a programme of work to retrofit these vehicles so that his wheelchair type could be accommodated.

"This work is expected to be completed by September.

"Until then we have a specific arrangement with Mr Light to refund him the cost of his train tickets so that he can still travel.

"Our latest vehicles are all fully wheelchair accessible and are not affected by this issue."

The company did not respond when asked whether Mr Light's deal was open to other wheelchair users.