Gatwick airport has apologised to a disabled woman who was left stranded on a plane for more than an hour and a half after staff did not come to help her.
Victoria Brignell, from west London, who is paralysed from the neck down, was returning home on Saturday after a holiday in Malta.
She was initially told she would have to wait on the plane for 50 minutes, despite her wheelchair arriving “promptly”. But Wilson James, a firm contracted to help Gatwick assist disabled passengers, did not arrive to assist her.
Speaking of the incident, Brignell said: “Shortly after landing the BA airline staff came up to me and said they’re sorry but the people who are meant to help get me off the plane would not be there for 50 minutes. Time passed and I was then told it would be another half an hour on top of that. In the end I was waiting an hour and 35 minutes.
Brignell was unable to use the toilet while on the plane. However, she said the British Airways staff were “fantastic”, very apologetic and provided her with drinks while she waited for the Gatwick airport staff to arrive.