Frank Gardner had to drag himself along the plane floor (Image: BBC)
A disabled BBC journalist has revealed he was forced to crawl from the toilet to his seat on a plane because of an airline’s wheelchair ban.
Frank Gardner, a security correspondent, was shot and paralysed by al-Qaeda gunmen in Saudi Arabia in 2004 while working as the ’s Middle East correspondent.
He was recently flying from Warsaw in Poland to the UK when the airline, LOT Polish Airlines, refused to let him board with his wheelchair.
The journalist, 63, was then made to drag himself along the floor of the airplane to get to and from the toilet.
Mr Gardner posted about the ordeal on X (formerly Twitter) and then went on Breakfast to speak about the “inhumane” treatment he got from the airline.
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.
— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner)
He shared a photograph of his legs on the floor of his flight, writing: “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.”
The journalist added in a follow-up post: “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.”
Mr Gardner said on Breakfast: “It is outrageous in terms of air travel that LOT had no onboard aisle chair. I said, ‘Well, how do you expect me 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.
“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, 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.”
[REPORT]
Now the firm has said it was “deeply sorry” for Mr Gardner’s “distressing” ordeal.
LOT said: “We are deeply sorry for the distressing experience Mr Frank Gardner encountered on his recent flight with us. We sincerely apologise 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 apologise for the distress caused. We are committed to improving our services to ensure all passengers have a comfortable and dignified travel experience.”