DISABLED commuters in the North-East face problems using public transport, an undercover investigation has revealed.

The End of the Line report is based on more than 200 journeys taken by mystery travellers who suffer from muscle wasting diseases.

It was presented to Parliament yesterday by Trailblazers – the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s network of 16 to 30-year-olds who are fighting for the rights of young disabled people.

In half of all journeys made in the North-East, the group found a problem with the accessible facilities at the station, on the vehicle or with staff members’ lack of disability awareness.

The document revealed that across the UK, half of trains lacked basic disabled facilities at stations and on board.

On a third of bus journeys, the mystery commuter was unable to board the first vehicle which pulled up at the bus stop.

Wheelchair-bound Jennifer Gallacher, 26, from Nunthorpe, in Middlesbrough, who works part-time as a teaching assistant, uses taxis instead of other public transport.

She said: “I can use a taxi independently for a journey so I don’t have to have a carer or someone else with me in the vehicle.

“My least-favoured modes of public transport are buses.

I like to do as much as I can on my own and buses don’t let me do this.”

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, who met campaigners in Parliament, said: “I hope that the report’s findings will help boost independence and improve the quality of life for all people living with muscle disease.”