A YORK mother-of-two was left shocked and disbelieving when three motorists refused to stop to let her disabled child cross the road.

Claire Martin's four-year-old son Cameron, who goes to Bishopthorpe Primary School, needs to walk with a special walking frame.

He only recently began using the posture control frame and, as an incentive to help him gain confidence with it, she promised him a trip to McDonalds at Clifton Moor, York.

But as the family began to cross at the zebra crossing outside Mothercare World, a female driver took one look at Cameron standing on the kerb, waiting to follow his mother and baby brother Connor - and drove straight over the crossing.

The driver behind followed suit, and Cameron was left stranded on the opposite side of the crossing from his mother, and one-year-old Connor in his pushchair.

"What happened next was absolutely horrifying. When we got to the McDonald's crossing, a woman in a silver Volkswagen actually drove around Cameron when he was halfway across the road. I felt sick with fear," said Miss Martin, from Woodlands, Acomb.

"It may take him an extra 30 seconds or so to get across, but these people just treated Cameron like he was invisible," she said.

Miss Martin said Cameron was fully aware of what had happened and was very shaken by it.

"He thought it was safe to cross, and we'd been through all the rules about crossing the road. I really hope those drivers feel bad about what they did," she said.

Judith Oliver, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire, said that regardless of Cameron's disability, the cars were not only being driven dangerously, but illegally too.

"Unfortunately, I think this is a question of human nature. Some people are highly considerate and they can put themselves in the position of more disadvantaged people. Others are very inconsiderate, like those drivers.

"Perhaps the only thing that would stop them would be a trip to court," she said.

Ms Oliver said: "You hear about parents being killed or injured trying to protect their children in these situations - it's instinctive, you don't think about it."

Updated: 09:34 Saturday, September 11, 2004