A disabled BBC journalist made the news himself after tweeting how he was left waiting on an empty plane and told there were no staff at Heathrow Airport to help remove his wheelchair.
Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent, revealed on social media how he was forced to wait “long after” other passengers had disembarked from the plane.
He tweeted a picture of an empty plane and commented: “It’s happened again. Stuck on an empty plane at Heathrow airport long after everyone else is off – ‘no staff to get my wheelchair off the plane’.
“I am SO disappointed with Heathrow Airport as disabled passengers are once again apparently the lowest priority.”
Frank has used a wheelchair since being shot while reporting in Saudi Arabia in 2004.
One media outlet reported that he has previously told of his frustration at Heathrow, saying in March 2018 that he had been left on a plane for nearly two hours. Another said this has happened to him four times.
On the latest occasion Frank had been reporting from a Baltic Security conference about the plans of Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
After highlighting his plight he tweeted again with this progress report: “Now off plane and in the terminal while I’m guessing all other passengers are on their way home.”
He also described his complaint as “an incredibly minor whinge compared to the horrors people have endured in Ukraine” but added that the treatment of disabled people by the airport was objectionable and that investment should go where it is needed.
The media reported that Heathrow apologised to Frank on Twitter and said they were looking into the incident “as a matter of urgency”.
A few days later Frank added: “Slightly embarrassed by all the attention this Heathrow stranded-on-a-plane thing has got but hey, if we don’t make a fuss I suspect nothing will change.”
One media organisation reported that a survey published in 2020 found nearly a third of customers at Heathrow were unhappy with the assistance they received.
They added that the study by Which? Magazine, found that 28 per cent of disabled customers were unhappy with the airport’s assistance service.
