A
Paralympian

who
missed
her
booked
assistance
on
LNER
and
had
to
‘crawl
off’
a
train
at
London
King’s
Cross
has
described
how
there
was
no
one
at
the
station
who
could
help
her.

LNER
has
launched
an
investigation.

Baroness
Tanni
Grey-Thompson
said
she
had
booked
assistance
on
the
19.15
LNER
service
from
Leeds
to
London
last
night,
on
her
way
to
Paris
for
the
Paralympics,
which
start
tomorrow.
However,
she
missed
her
train
and
travelled
on
the
following
19.45.

When
she
arrived
in
London
she
waited
for
20
minutes,
but
no
one
arrived
to
help
her.
Cleaners
on
the
train
said
they
could
not
give
her
any
assistance
because
they
were
not
insured
to
do
so.

She
told
the
BBC
this
morning
how
she
had
to
manage
for
herself.

The
athlete,
who
has
won
11
golds,
four
silvers
and
a
bronze
medal
at
five
Paralympics, 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.

‘There
were
a
couple
of
cleaners
but
they’re
not
insured
or
able
to
help
me
off.
So
I
decided
that
I
would
crawl
off
the
train.

‘I’m
going
to
Paris
later
today,
I’ve
got
a
few
bags.
I
chucked
them
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.’

‘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.

‘I
can
just
about
get
off
the
train
if
I
need
to,
but
there
are
loads
of
people
that
can’t.
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
responded:
‘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.’