Eurostar mistakenly charged a disabled passenger £113 extra to travel to Paris after he was told that the only wheelchair accessible area was in a first class carriage. The train company later acknowledged the mistake, although only following intervention by the travel agent who had booked the trip for the passenger, Alan Sage. Mr Sage and his wife were travelling with two friends; all four have now been granted first class travel as ‘a gesture of goodwill’ from Eurostar.
Mr Sage said that Eurostar had informed the group they would have to pay extra because the wheelchair accessible area was in first class. He said: ‘They wanted an extra £113 and the couple we were going with had to pay an extra £300. To charge people extra for being in first class when you can’t go anywhere else is not on.’
A spokesman for Eurostar put the extra charges down to a mistake with one of their own travel agents. He said the accessible spaces were located in first class because there were more staff and the doors were wider. ‘If you have a wheelchair you may sit there, with one companion, at no added cost,’ he said. ‘In this incident, because of a mix-up, the client was told he would have to pay more.’
