BBC reporter Frank Gardner has told of his outrage at being stranded on a plane, saying airlines and airports should be fined for failing disabled passengers.
The security correspondent, who has used a wheelchair since being shot by terrorists in 2004, had to wait half an hour to be helped off a plane on Sunday, finally disembarking long after all the other passengers on his flight had started to make their way home from Gatwick Airport.
Frank was angry about his treatment (BBC)
Frank, 55, had been returning from the French Alps and tweeted his complaints about Gatwick, EasyJet and OCS which provides passenger assistance.
Once more stuck on empty plane at Gatwick Airport after all passengers off and heading home as special assistance have failed to turn up. pic.twitter.com/2fFgJFwGOQ
— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) January 8, 2017
Dear @Gatwick_Airport @easyJet @Ocs_Assist Your failure to get disabled pax promptly off planes even AFTER all others r off is inexcusable.
— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) January 8, 2017
The journalist said that it was the latest in a long line of bad experiences, sharing a photo from another time he had been left behind, this time with a celebrity companion.
This problem is not confined to U.K. Here's me and singer Gloria Gaynor in Paris waiting for hi-lift after all other passengers were off. pic.twitter.com/ryJeLSDSKT
— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) January 9, 2017
While Frank later tweeted his thanks to Gatwick, EasyJet and OCS for looking into his complaint, he said that he had been contacted by plenty of other disabled passengers who had experienced similar problems.
He told the BBC: “I am pretty cynical about this because I have been travelling with a wheelchair for 12 years and I’ve not seen any improvement.
“Nothing will change unless there is perpetual bad publicity, or there are financial penalties.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel