“On the eve of the Paralympics it highlights how much further we need to go.”
11-time Paralympic gold medallist, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced to ‘crawl off’ an LNER train at London King’s Cross.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Baroness said she had initially booked assistance to help her off the 19.15 train from Leeds but missed the train and had to catch the 19.45 instead.
She should have still been helped off but after waiting for twenty minutes, no one arrived so she had to disembark herself.
The train company have said they are investigating what happened and issued an apology to Baroness Grey-Thompson.
The shocking incident happened just days before the 5-time Paralympian heads off to the Paris Paralympics.
The 55-year-old, who lives in Stockton, Teesside said: “There was no one there to meet me and I waited five minutes before putting anything on social media because you’re meant to leave five minutes. After 16 minutes of waiting at King’s Cross, there was no one in sight.
“There were a couple of cleaners but they’re not insured or able to help me off. So I decided that I would crawl off the train.
“I’m going to Paris later today, I’ve got a few bags. I chucked them on the platform, I had to get out of my chair, sit on the floor by the door which is not pleasant and then crawl off.”
The Baroness explained that although she missed the original train she was booked on, she ‘had a contract’ to be met at the other end.
She continued: “Legally I am allowed to turn up and ask to get on a train.
“We were meant to have level boarding in the UK on 1 January 2020 under the Disability and Discrimination Act but government has kicked the can down the road.
“I can just about get off the train if I need to, but there are loads of people that can’t.
“I can’t really crawl but sit on the floor and drag my legs. There was no one around and I was very angry last night.
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“If the train manager hadn’t seen me crawling off, I would have had to pull the emergency cord and I would have delayed the train going north.”
A spokesperson for LNER said: “We are sorry to understand there has been an issue at London King’s Cross station on Monday evening.
“We are in the process of investigating this and are in contact with the customer directly.”
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 made it a legal requirement for all trains to be made accessible by 2020 but many carriages fail to comply with the rules.
Alison Kerry, head of communications at disability equality charity Scope, said it was ‘a sad reminder that far too often disabled people get treated like second-class citizens’.
She said: “On the eve of the Paralympics it highlights how much further we need to go.”
Baroness Grey-Thompson, who has spina bifida, was a wheelchair racer and competed in five Games between 1988 and 2004.
She claimed 11 gold medals, plus four silvers and a bronze.
