Disabled former athlete forced to ‘crawl’ off train after LNER hell on eve of Paralympics

A disabled former athlete travelling on a London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train was forced to “crawl” out of the carriage as there was no assistance to help them off.

Tanni Grey-Thompson, a former Paralympian, was travelling from Leeds to London on Monday night. The retired wheelchair racer was heading down to the capital ahead of a trip to Paris to watch the Paralympics the following day.

The 55-year-old arrived in Kings Cross Station at 22.02pm but was dismayed to discover there was no member of staff there to assist her in disembarking the train.

A cleaner at some point offered to help her, but because they had no insurance, they could not legally assist Grey-Thompson.

She was forced to decline the cleaner’s offer as a result.

She posted numerous times on social media asking LNER for assistance but to no avail.

After over 15 minutes of waiting, Grey-Thompson was left with no option other than to drag herself off the carriage.

Taking to social media to vent, the 55-year-old said: “At 22.17 (train got in at 22.02) I decided to crawl off. Had to move all my stuff onto the platform. Member of cleaning staff offered to help. They’re not insured.” (sic)

A concerned and sympathetic user replied to Grey-Thompson, asking: “What were you supposed to do? Sleep in your chair on the train, waiting for an insured member of staff to turn up in the morning?”

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She then replied: “Bit awkward. I’m off to Paris tomorrow for the Paralympics. And the train was going north at 23.00.”

After arriving at Kings Cross, Grey-Thompson explained that she waited five minutes before posting on social media as that’s the requisite amount of time a person needing assistance is expected to wait before flagging.

She said: “I’m sort of lucky. I can still just about crawl off a train. What if I couldn’t? I was looking for the emergency lever. When would someone have seen me?”

As well as crawling off the carriage, the 55-year-old also had to take her bags off the train as well.

Asked by the BBC if she had booked assistance in advance, she explained: “Disabled people have a legal right to turn up and go. So I had booked assistance but I hadn’t made that train so legally I am allowed to turn up and ask to get on a train.

“My view is, once somebody has put me on a train, I have a contract which means somebody should meet me at the other end.”

She slammed the booking system as being “not fit for purpose”, though conceded that every train company has a slightly different approach.

The 55-year-old is a keen supporter of implementing level boarding on trains which reduces the risk of falls, as well as makes getting on and off a train much more accessible for disabled people.

“We were meant to have level boarding in the UK on January 1, 2020 under the disability discrimination act,” she explained.

“Every single Government has kicked the can down the road. It’s now going to be 100 years before we have level boarding and I can get on a train without the permission or support of a non-disabled person.”

Grey-Thompson said that the situation has left her rattled. “I’m still quite angry this morning – I thought I was over it but I’m not. I have a lot of privilege as a disabled person, I absolutely recognise that. Other people would have been left in a much worse situation than me. It’s got to change.”

Enraged social media users jumped to her defence.

Baroness Keeley of Worsely said: “That’s awful Tanni. I hope you can take action on this as it should not have happened.

“We should all be infuriated and demand a change. This should not be happening especially in 2024! Sorry you’re facing this,” one user said.

A third added: “It’s absolutely awful, I’m so sorry. Just utterly grim”, whilst a fourth declared: “Absolutely disgusting – sue them.”

GB News has reached out to LNER for comment.