Susan Harty (69) and husband Nik (74) from the Whitehall Landing area of Whitby travelled to York last Monday for a day trip.

Mrs Harty said: "As we waited for the ramp to be brought for my electric wheelchair about a dozen people pushed past us in the queue.

"When a waitress tried to fix the ramp in position a customer pushed through and nearly trapped her fingers."

After lunch, Mrs Harty needed to use the accessible toilet on the ground floor but the stairlift got stuck on the bottom step.

Staff released the safety bar for her to get out and she was seated in the restaurant.

Due to the heavy weight of the wheelchair, which needs an electric hoist to get it into the couple's specially adapted car, it was unable to be moved.

The couple abandoned plans for the afternoon and went home.

Mrs Harty, who has needed a wheelchair for eight years, was without it for 48 hours.

"It was inconvenient and frustrating and being without the chair made life extremely difficult for us.

"But the staff did do their best," said Mrs Harty.

They got the wheelchair back on Thursday after engineers were called out from Leicester.

Betty's refunded the scooter hire, returned petrol costs and gave them a free lunch.

"Life with a wheelchair can be a frustrating experience but a sense of humour and some awareness of the problems of access on the part of staff and other customers can make a vast difference to how one feels about the obstacles to inclusion in everyday life activities," said Mrs Harty.

"Sadly much of the world is just not geared up for the disabled."

A spokesperson for Bettys and Taylors said: "We welcome all our customers and strive to be accessible but some of our buildings are very old and we can't leave ramps out all the time as they are a tripping hazard.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience and did everything we could to rectify the situation.

"We provided Mrs Harty with complimentary meals and refreshments and reimbursed the cost of hiring a wheelchair and petrol costs."