A disabled man said he was left with his self-confidence knocked after he was kicked off an easyJet flight for not being able to walk to the plane toilet.
Barry Dobner, 79 was due to fly from Manchester to Athens on 3 April with easyJet for a two-week holiday in Greece to celebrate his 80th birthday, yet after boarding the flight, he claimed he was removed from the plane minutes before take-off, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Mr Dobner, who has used a wheelchair since suffering a stroke 18 years ago, claimed a member of the cabin crew overheard that he had a portable urinal bottle in his hand luggage.
“A stewardess walked by and she said ‘excuse me, do you have a urinal bottle?’. My wife said yes, in case of emergencies. She said ‘hang on a minute’. She came back and said ‘can your husband walk to the toilet’?
“My wife said ‘no, my husband can’t walk at all’. They said ‘you have to get off this plane’. My wife asked why and they said ‘because he can’t walk to the toilet’,” Mr Dobner recounted.
Mr Dobner said his whole group got off the plane and had to be picked up from the airport by a friend to go back home.
“The whole plane was standing up watching what was going on. You can imagine how that made me feel,” he added.
His wife, Alison Dobner, said that they have flown with easyJet before, and had never had any issues.
“What upsets me the most is the way he was spoken to. To treat a disabled person like that was appalling, especially when they had all the information beforehand. It’s just ludicrous. The other passengers were sitting there gobsmacked.”
Mr Dobner added: “I’ve always been a happy-go-lucky chap but this has knocked me back a bit. I feel like just an object, I’m not a person any more. My self-respect had gone right down.
“I’ve flown six times since my stroke and it’s always been fine before this. They knew I couldn’t walk when they put me on the plane.”
After missing their flight, the couple claimed they had lost around £2,000, so have raised the issue with their holiday insurance providers and also made a complaint to easyJet.
The airline’s website states that there is an onboard wheelchair on every aircraft and that passengers must be able to transfer themselves onto the chair, or with help from a companion.
Cabin crew can also assist with taking passengers through the cabin to and from the toilet door.
An easyJet spokesperson told The Independent: “We are very sorry Mr and Mrs Dobner and their companion were unable to fly as planned with easyJet.
“We are in touch with Mr Dobner and his party to apologise for this error and to refund them in full for their flight and provide them with denied boarding compensation.
“As an airline, we are committed to making easyJet accessible to everyone.
“EasyJet carries around one million passengers requiring some form of assistance each year and our research shows that 87 per cent of easyJet passengers who require this are satisfied with the services we provide.”
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Source: independent.co.uk
