To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Up Next
A disabled BBC reporter was forced to crawl along the floor of a plane to get to the toilet because there was no wheelchair on board.
Security correspondent Frank Gardner, who was left paralysed by an al-Qaeda attack in Saudi Arabia in 2004, took to social media to detail his shocking experience on a flight back from Warsaw.
Alongside a picture showing his legs on the floor of the plane, he said: ‘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.’
He added: ‘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.’
The journalist was showered in support from his followers, with @kejamieson writing: ‘How is this still happening in 2024?! Absolutely appalling.’
‘Oh for goodness sake that’s unbelievable, hope you’re ok,’ @Jothegingernut replied, to which Frank said: ‘Bit of a sore backside and my suit is not thrilled but hey.’
Wow. Itâs 2024 and Iâve just had to crawl along the floor of this LOT Polish airline to get to the toilet during a flight back from Warsaw as âwe donât have onboard wheelchairs. Itâs airline policyâ. If youâre disabled and you canât walk this is just discriminatory. pic.twitter.com/aFuxo89DR5
— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) September 30, 2024
Frank Gardner has used a wheelchair after an al-Qaeda attack in 2004 (Picture: BBC/Curious Films)
Frank has used a wheelchair after he was shot six times by al-Qaeda gunmen whilst reporting on terrorist activity, and was left with damage to his spinal nerves and a colostomy bag.
He also spoke about the ‘outrageous’ experience on the flight on BBC Breakfast, saying: ‘If somebody drags you to the loo… it’s too difficult.’
‘It’s inhumane to make passengers crawl to the loo on your planes.’
Frank was left ‘outraged’ by the ‘inhumane’ experience (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock)
In a film in 2020, the 63-year-old fronted documentary Being Frank: The Frank Gardner Story, where he wanted people ‘to see the iceberg beneath the surface’ and expose the realities of life as a disabled person that are often not spoken about.
‘People look at somebody in a wheelchair, like me, and they probably think “poor guy, I wonder if he needs a bit of help?” What they don’t see is all the stuff that we have to deal with beneath the surface,’ he told the BBC.
He also spoke in the documentary about the pain he still suffers about the attack, which saw him shot ‘at point blank rage’ first in the shoulder, then a second bullet in the leg, with several more shot at him …read more
Source:: Metro
