A DISABLED teenager was left cold and upset at a train station after a conductor refused to let her on because the wheelchair space was full of shopping bags.

After being told she was not allowed to board the Cross Country train, Cerebral Palsy sufferer Paige Bartram was shocked to discover that its wheelchair space was stuffed with suitcases and shopping bags.

The 19-year-old, from Redcar, had been enjoying a day out at Leeds Christmas Market with her family and friends before her journey home, from Leeds to Darlington station, turned sour despite pre-booking the disabled space.

The Northern Echo: NO ACCESS: Paige Bartram, 19, from Redcar, was denied access to a Cross Country train because she was told the space reserved for her was being used - only to discover the real reason was that the space was full of luggage

Paige Bartram, 19, from Redcar, was denied access to a Cross Country train because she was told the space reserved for her was being used - only to discover the real reason was that the space was full of luggage

She said: “I get quite anxious and quite shy in public situations anyway and sometimes can struggle to get my point across properly.

“I was trying to tell the conductor that I was freezing. I told him that I was so cold and I just needed to get home. He didn’t even look at me in the eye.

“If he’d apologised and said that there was nothing they could do then I would have accepted it - but he was just so abrupt and rude.”

The teenager was forced to catch a later train, but had to make do with a place in the carriage’s entrance space last Wednesday.

A Cross Country spokesman said an investigation had been launched, adding: “Obviously, this is not how we expect our customers to be treated.”