Hannah Langford

Trains, planes and wheelchairs: why is this still a route to disaster?

Too often I have ended up stuck, stranded – or in the bicycle store

  • From Spectator Life
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Whenever I take a train journey, I am filled with dread. Despite always booking assistance, I am terrified there won’t be someone at my destination with a ramp to help me and my powered wheelchair on to the platform. Many a time has my travel companion – or a complete stranger – had to straddle the train and the platform to stop the train doors closing with me stuck inside. I have frequently arrived at my destination late and stressed, left with the impression that my time doesn’t matter. What on earth could I be late for – surely nothing important?

So I have read with horror, but not surprise, the recent stories of disabled people being abandoned or mistreated when travelling on planes and trains. I know from bitter experience that chaotic journeys and ruined plans are a regular occurrence when trying to navigate the public transport system.

In July, BBC journalist Frank Gardner complained about being stranded on an empty plane without wheelchair assistance after landing – the fifth time this had happened since he began using a wheelchair in 2004. In June, Gatwick apologised to Victoria Brignell, who was stuck on a plane for more than 90 minutes after landing when airport staff failed to come to assist her.

Stories like this – and many more – mean I’ve never dared take my powered wheelchair on a plane. I’m worried that when I arrive it will be broken or missing, ruining my holiday. For this reason I have ruled out plane travel for the foreseeable future.

Despite me pointing out the carriage with a wheelchair sign on the door, the member of staff helping me insisted I got into a different one. I found myself in the bicycle store

And trains aren’t much better. I was considering using the train for my daily commute, so I did a trial run.

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