Appeal judges decided yesterday that parents with buggies should take priority over wheelchair users on public transport, disability campaigners claimed.

The Court of Appeal overturned a previous ruling ordering bus company First Group to pay £5,500 damages to wheelchair user Doug Paulley after he was unable to board a bus because a mother refused to move a pram with her sleeping baby in a dedicated bay.

Leeds County Court had ruled that First Group was in breach of its duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

But Lord Justice Lewison said yesterday: “The judge seems to me to have thought that the needs of wheelchair users trumped all other considerations.

“If that is what he meant, I respectfully disagree.”

Muscular dystrophy campaign Trailblazers’ Victoria Wright said she was “frustrated and extremely disappointed” by the decision.