Disabled passenger abandoned on a plane at Manchester airport for over two hours

A disabled passenger who was abandoned on a plane at Manchester airport for more than two hours, before having to phone the police to help get him through border control, felt like he was being held hostage.

The airport's services for wheelchair users have been called for a review by a man with a muscular disease. He and his companion were trapped on the plane after their flight from Rome. They had to wait another hour to get through the abandoned border control area after calling the police, after being taken off the aircraft at 4.40am.

A string of similar problems for wheelchair users at UK airports has left Tavernor bruised and emotionally drained. He said that long delays at UK airports due to staff shortages are a common occurrence for people in wheelchairs.

For general passengers, staff resources at airports are a big issue, but for disabled passengers in the UK it is getting worse.

It was sorry to hear that Mr Tavernor had a disappointing experience, but it has not apologized or responded to his complaint.

The company that handles the airport's special assistance service is called ABM. It expressed regret but did not apologize.

Manchester airport need to review their contract, according to Tavernor, who is from Stoke-on-Trent. Either they are trying to run it on a shoestring and can't improve the service because of the budget or they have not scaled up staff numbers after the Pandemic.

He said the services for disabled passengers in other countries were better than those in the UK. He said that it really lacks the attention it needs and that he had experienced similar delays before.

In a letter of complaint to the airport, Tavernor said that he was bruised and had a strained neck after being held up for so long. How can you leave a passenger on a plane and not allow us to get into our own country?

Last week the security editor of the BBC expressed his frustration at being left on a plane when his wheelchair wasn't delivered. The people expressed their sympathies to Tavernor after he posted a video about his experience.

The current situation for all airline passengers is appalling and for disabled people who need assistance, it is a whole lot worse. Many of us need help to navigate through the airport and on and off planes, we are completely reliant on the assistance and when it doesn't work the stress and anxiety is enormous.

It is clear that airports have legal duties under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments for disabled passengers and this is not happening.

Due to the rapid pace at which travel has recovered from the swine flu, airlines, baggage handlers and assistance providers are experiencing staff shortages. We are doing everything we can to address this as quickly as possible.

The industry continues to face resource challenges and we are currently experiencing higher volumes of passengers who require special assistance than our busiest pre-pandemic peak.