A disabled man was left to “struggle” after his wheelchair was placed on an airport baggage carousel in error, leaving it with irreversible damage.
Mark Parrin, 57, had flown to Gatwick Airport on Wednesday 28 September with his wife as the two returned from a three-week holiday in Tenerife.
Despite having requested special assistance in advance of their easyJet flight, at Gatwick, the couple were left stranded for an hour and 20 minutes before assistance came to support them, they told Kent Live.
When assistance did finally arrive, the couple were told that Mark’s wheelchair had been erroneously removed from the flight hold and sent to baggage reclaim.
The dad of three has been a wheelchair user since 1990, after he suffered a serious spinal injury.
When the pair reached baggage reclaim, they found Mark’s £2,000 wheelchair had suffered damage during the move, including the right wheel being bent out of shape.
Mark said: “I’ve got a few colleagues that worked in the same field as I did who had a few horror stories about this but up until now I’ve had no problems. It was interesting to be on the receiving end. We were out in the airfield as the plane didn’t stop directly at the terminal. Everyone else had left by the steps.”
“You can accept a 15 minute delay,” he added, “but this eventually turned into an hour and 20 minutes. We kept the poor taxi driver waiting for over two hours. I was pretty calm, but as time went on I started to get a bit annoyed.”
He continued that, without his wheelchair, Mark “had to struggle”, with the assistance of his wife and one of the service providers, to “hobble” to the nearest airport buggy.
Mark said the damage to his wheelchair felt like his ‘independence was taken away’
(Nicola Ann Parrin)
Mark said: “Without your chair, it starts to dawn on you that this situation is really irritating. Your independence is totally taken away and there’s no thought given to people that need assistance. Everyone was starting to get a bit agitated.”
He claimed that this was the worst assistance has received at an airport, adding: “My wife didn’t look happy. When I got closer I could see that the wheel was completely buckled. It was so bent up that we were unable to push the chair. I had to take one of the sides of the chair just so that it could actually move.
“I must admit, it made me feel sick as soon as I saw it. As a wheelchair user, your mobility and independence are gone, all through…
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