Disabled woman left on plane at Gatwick airport for an hour and a half
Gatwick airport has apologised to a disabled woman who was left stranded on a plane for more than an hour and a half after staff did not come to help her.
Victoria Brignell, from west London, who is paralysed from the neck down, was returning home on Saturday after a holiday in Malta.
She was initially told she would have to wait for 50 minutes, despite her wheelchair arriving “promptly”.
But Wilson James, a firm contracted to help Gatwick assist disabled passengers, did not arrive to assist her.
Speaking of the incident, Brignell said: “Shortly after landing the BA airline staff came up to me and said they’re sorry but the people who are meant to help get me off the plane would not be there for 50 minutes.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>Hi @Gatwick_Airport my friend with a disability, Victoria, has been left waiting on a plane that’s landed for getting on for an hour now. This is really unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/D4Jxj1LZX1“Time passed and I was then told it would be another half an hour on top of that. In the end I was waiting an hour and 35 minutes.
“I am paralysed from the neck down so I can’t use my arms or legs. To get off a plane I need two people to lift me from the airplane seat into an aisle chair, which is a specially designed narrow wheelchair to push me along the aisle off the plane, and lift me into my wheelchair waiting outside.
“My wheelchair arrived promptly, but the people who were supposed to help me get off the plane didn’t turn up; they were busy elsewhere.”
Brignell was unable to use the toilet while on the plane. However, she said the British Airways staff were “fantastic”, very apologetic and provided her with drinks while she waited for the Gatwick airport staff to arrive.
Passengers hoping to
Read more on theguardian.com
