Gold medal-winning Paralympian forced to ‘crawl off’ train

A former Paralympian was forced to crawl off a train as she travelled to Paris.

Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson was on an LNER train arriving into London King’s Cross from Leeds as she journeyed to the Paralympics.

The former wheelchair racer had missed her original 19.15 booking and instead travelled down to the capital on the 19.45 service.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Baroness Grey-Thompson said: ‘There was no one there to meet me and I waited five minutes before putting anything on social media because you’re meant to leave five minutes.

‘After 16 minutes of waiting at King’s Cross, there was no one in sight. So I decided that I would crawl off the train.

‘I chucked my bags on the platform, I had to get out of my chair, sit on the floor by the door which is not pleasant and then crawl off.’

But even though she missed her original booking, LNER still have a ‘contact’ to meet those needing assistance at the other end.

‘Legally I am allowed to turn up and ask to get on a train. We were meant to have level boarding in the UK on 1 January 2020 under the Disability and Discrimination Act but government has kicked the can down the road,’ she said.

‘I can’t really crawl but sit on the floor and drag my legs. There was no one around and I was very angry last night.

‘If the train manager hadn’t seen me crawling off, I would have had to pull the emergency cord and I would have delayed the train going north.’

LNER said: ‘We are sorry to understand there has been an issue at London King’s Cross station on Monday evening.

‘We are in the process of investigating this and are in contact with the customer directly.’

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