BBC star forced to ‘crawl along floor’ to toilet on flight as plane had no wheelchair

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.’

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.’

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 while he was conscious.

‘Then they stood over me and put the rest into me,’ he said, adding: ‘My insides were shot to pieces.’

When the documentary aired, Frank added to the BBC that he still has to manage nerve pain in his legs that feels like someone is ‘taking a huge mallet and whacking the side of my knee – it lasts from five to 10 seconds, but it’s so painful I can hardly speak’.

He continued: ‘I want people to see that despite all of this… you’re still able to lead a pretty normal life.’

The airline has since apologised, saying in a statement shared with Metro.co.uk: ‘We are deeply sorry for the distressing experience Mr. Frank Gardner encountered on his recent flight with us. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and discomfort caused by the lack of an onboard wheelchair.

‘Currently, onboard wheelchairs are available on our Dreamliner aircraft. However, due to limited space, our short-haul fleet does not yet have this facility. We understand the importance of accessibility and are actively testing solutions to equip our short-haul aircraft with onboard wheelchairs in the near future.

‘As mentioned on our website, for long-haul flights, we provide onboard wheelchairs to assist passengers in moving around the cabin. Additionally, our ground staff is always ready to assist passengers from check-in to boarding and from the aircraft to the baggage claim area.

‘We deeply regret the inconvenience Mr. Gardner experienced and sincerely apologize for the distress caused. We are committed to improving our services to ensure all passengers have a comfortable and dignified travel experience.’