Airline forces disabled man to 'crawl along the floor' to bathroom because of wheelchair policy
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner has described what happened on Twitter
A disabled war journalist has claimed he was forced to crawl to the bathroom on a recent flight heading to London.
Frank Gardner, a security correspondent at the BBC, took a flight with Polish airline Lot, which departed from Warsaw.
But he was far from impressed with his experience on the budget airline, as he claimed to have been forced to crawl towards the toilet as wheelchairs are forbidden.
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Taking to Twitter, Gardner wrote: "Wow. It’s 2024 and I’ve just had to crawl along the floor of this LOT Polish airline to get to the toilet during a flight back from Warsaw as 'we don’t have onboard wheelchairs. It’s airline policy'.
"If you’re disabled and you can’t walk this is just discriminatory."
Gardner, who was left paralyzed after being shot by al Qaeda gunmen in Saudi Arabia some 20 years ago, posted a photo of his legs on the floor of the plane.
After the original Twitter post went viral, the war correspondent posted a follow-up on the social media platform.
In it, he heaped praise on the crew members, though he was super critical of the airline, Lot.
"In fairness to the cabin crew, they were as helpful and apologetic as they could be. Not their fault, it’s the airline. Won’t be flying LOT again until they join the 21st century," he wrote.
The journalist then appeared on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday (1 October) to discuss the event in further detail.
Speaking rather angrily, Gardner said: "It is outrageous in terms of air travel that LOT, the Polish airline I traveled on from Warsaw last night back to London, had no onboard aisle chair.
"I said, ‘Well, how do you expect me to go to the loo?’ ‘Well, we can help you.’
“Well, not really, because if somebody drags you to the loo it’s too difficult. I had to crawl on my backside along the floor — which wasn’t particularly clean — of the aircraft."
He added: "The cabin crew were very embarrassed and they were as helpful as they could — there was a really nice steward there who was fantastic. He was able to take my legs.
“But the point is, guys, it’s not difficult to have an onboard aisle chair. These things fold up to the size of a pram, if not smaller, and they fit into an overhead locker or into a cupboard.”
A spokesperson for LOT told UNILAD: "We are deeply sorry for the distressing experience Mr. Frank Gardner encountered on his recent flight with us. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and discomfort caused by the lack of an onboard wheelchair.
"Currently, onboard wheelchairs are available on our Dreamliner aircraft. However, due to limited space, our short-haul fleet does not yet have this facility. We understand the importance of accessibility and are actively testing solutions to equip our short-haul aircraft with onboard wheelchairs in the near future.
"As mentioned on our website, for long-haul flights, we provide onboard wheelchairs to assist passengers in moving around the cabin. Additionally, our ground staff is always ready to assist passengers from check-in to boarding and from the aircraft to the baggage claim area.
"We deeply regret the inconvenience Mr. Gardner experienced and sincerely apologize for the distress caused. We are committed to improving our services to ensure all passengers have a comfortable and dignified travel experience."
Topics: BBC, Social Media, Travel, Health, UK News
Callum Jones