(GoRealNewsNow.com) – A disabled war journalist was involved in an embarrassing and humiliating situation, as he was forced to crawl to the bathroom on a flight to London because the airline does not allow wheelchairs onboard.
63-year-old BBC reporter Frank Gardner shared his experience on X, describing the humiliating situation he faced.
“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,’” Gardner posted.
“If you’re disabled and you can’t walk this is just discriminatory,” added the veteran journalist, who is paralyzed after being shot by al-Qaeda gunmen in Saudi Arabia 20 years ago.
Moreover, he clarified that the flight crew was not to blame. “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,” Gardner wrote.
Speaking on “BBC Breakfast,” he further expressed frustration over the incident.
“It is outrageous in terms of air travel that LOT, the Polish airline I traveled on from Warsaw last night back to London, had no onboard aisle chair,” the correspondent stated.
“I said, ‘Well, how do you expect me to go to the loo?’ ‘Well, we can help you.’ Well, not really, because if somebody drags you to the loo it’s too difficult,” he continued.
“I had to crawl on my backside along the floor — which wasn’t particularly clean — of the aircraft,” Gardner claimed.
Despite the uncomfortable experience, Gardner commended the cabin crew. “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.”
In addition, Gardner pointed out how easily the situation could have been avoided.
“But the point is, guys, 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,” he concluded.
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