New hybrid buses purchased by Bus Vannin were not subject to an equality assessment as one is not required.

The new buses, which were delivered to the island in the recent weeks, are subject to regulations which stipulate that buses must be able to carry wheelchairs of certain dimensions and weight.

In Keys this week, Infrastructure Minister Tim Baker was twice asked if equality checks were made on the new buses and failed to answer.

A spokesman for the DoI has since told the Manx Independent: ’Bus manufacturers design, build and certify them to international standards which ensure they are fit for safe operation. The Isle of Man is one of around 40 countries where to register a vehicle it must be certified as meeting those standards.

’UNECE Regulation 107 currently applies to buses bought by the Isle of Man Government. This regulation allows the carriage of wheelchairs but only those to prescribed weight and dimensions. It does not allow the carriage of a class 2 mobility scooter, for which the standards for safe carriage are still under development.’

However, Lawrie Hooper (Lib Vannin, Ramsey) told the Keys this week that he ’cannot see anything in that code that actively prohibits the carrying of these scooters’.

Mr Baker said the issue of mobility scooters on buses is a ’complex issue’ and that ’I take it from his [Mr Hooper’s] comments that it is not a specific prohibition, it is the way those regulations work’.

He added: ’We would have to modify the bus in order to adapt it to carry the mobility scooter. And there is no standard for the construction of mobility scooters so we could have a whole variety of different scooters, all of which would bring different challenges to allow them to be compatible with buses.

’The current designs do not have anchor points, for example, that a restraint could be attached to. And the issue is compounded by the fact that mobility scooters have a higher centre of gravity compared with a wheelchair.’

The Department of Infrastructure and Bus Vannin is being taken to an equality tribunal by Eric Corkish, an amputee, over its refusal to allow mobility scooters onto its buses.

Mr Corkish has said previously ’it’s disgusting that a disabled person cannot get on the bus’.