A teenage wheelchair user was left in the freezing cold after a bus driver refused to move his vehicle just a few feet to let her board.

Melody Powell, 17, was waiting outside Primark in Kingston with a friend when a 71 bus pulled up.

The driver tried to extend the wheelchair ramp but it was blocked by the glass bus stop – and, instead of moving forward slightly and re-extending the ramp, the driver slammed the door and drove away, with Melody’s friend on board.

Melody caught the whole shameful event on camera.

She said: “A kind lady tried to explain to the driver but he simply shut the doors and drove off with my friend on the bus, leaving me alone and in the cold.

“My friend asked the driver to wait for me at the next stop but he refused and wouldn't open the doors for her to get off and wait for me.”

The friend eventually got off at Kingston University and walked back to meet Melody.

Melody’s mother, Anita, told this website: “I think she was in shock actually really that it actually happened.

Surrey Comet:

Melody Powell, who was left stranded at a Kingston bus stop

“I think it was the fact that she was left cold and lonely. It will stop her from ever using buses on her own at all.”

Melody has encountered problems with access to buses before, she added.

This is not the first instance of a disabled woman being refused entry to a 71 bus. In 2014, another Chessington resident was blocked from boarding because a driver said mothers with buggies took precedence in the bus’s shared area – which was not true.

And in the same year a Kingston College student was stuck on a K3 bus for an hour after its electric ramp failed.

Katie Mason, then 24, said: “People get impatient and I get embarrassed.

“I know I'm not the only person who experiences it. It's a big problem that needs to be highlighted.”

Melody posted her video on the Facebook group S*** London, and received an outpouring of support.

Tony Akers, TfL’s head of bus operations, said: “I am very sorry to learn of this passenger’s experience.

“We expect the highest of standards from bus drivers and in this case they were clearly not met.

“We have spoken to the bus operator, London United, and they are investigating.

“We take accessibility extremely seriously. London has the largest fully accessible bus network in the world, serving the entire Greater London area and running to key towns over the boundary into neighbouring counties.

“The entire fleet of 8,900 buses are low-floor, wheelchair accessible and are fitted with ramps for ease of boarding.”