TV star and disability advocate Sophie Morgan has revealed that she broke down in tears after being left sitting on an airplane for over an hour after assistance staff ‘forgot’ about her

Loose Women panellist Sophie Morgan has revealed her anger at being ‘left’ on an airplane for over an hour.

This happened on more than one occasion – after all the other passengers departed the aircraft. Sophie, 38, recalled that she burst out crying on one occasion after being left for an hour because she needed assistance due to her wheelchair.

The disability advocate, who was paralysed from the waist down in a car crash when she was 18, was deep in conversation about whether or not one should ever act in anger before she revealed that it is that boils her blood the most. Explaining what makes her the most angry, Sophie revealed that being ‘forgotten’ or being made to feel ‘invisible’ due to her disability is the thing that most angers her.

“Personally, I’m a very impulsive person and I find that to be helpful at times but at other times, it doesn’t get me anywhere. Sometimes when I’m in situations where I feel there is injustice, like when I’m sitting on an airplane and I’ve been left there at the end of the journey and everyone else has gotten off – but I’ve been left sitting there for over an hour.

Sophie was paralysed from the waist down in a car crash when she was 18 ( 
Image:
ITV)

“Everyone would be gone and I would just be sitting there waiting, and getting angrier and angrier. My default emotion is anger and I respond in anger but I remember one time, it was a friend or someone in my family who said ‘why don’t you respond differently and get upset instead and see what happens’,” Sophie explained.

She continued: “And instead of me getting angry in my chair and shouting, I got upset and started crying, which is what I actually wanted to do but I’m more comfortable being angry. Everyone’s reaction was so different and they all went out of their way to help me and reassure me.”

Sophie celebrated a massive victory earlier this year when the Government announced planned legal changes in response to her Rights on Flights campaign. She launched the scheme after her wheelchair was broken when it was put in an aircraft’s hold.

In June, a report proposed measures to protect disabled flyers, such as scrapping a cap on compensation when airlines damage equipment, and giving the Civil Aviation Authority more power to punish airlines and airports treating disabled flyers unfairly. But Sophie was not happy that the changes will only be passed into law when Parliamentary time is available.

“I’m getting increasingly frustrated,” she previously told The Mirror. “What are we waiting for? If we don’t start to see some action after the promises we’ve been given, there will be consequences. We can’t keep waiting… we are in a crisis. “At the moment, we are trusting the Government, but there’s only so long that trust will last. We will hold them to account.”

Sophie opened up about how angry she gets when she’s made to feel invisible ( 
Image:
ITV)
Sophie launched her Rights on Flights campaign in January after arriving at Heathrow following an 11-hour flight to find her wheelchair and its battery-powered attachment smashed. She said it was like “an assault on my physical person” because her wheelchair acts as her legs. Her experience sparked an outpouring of similar stories from disabled people, but she claims forcing the Government to recognise the problem saw her branded a troublemaker.

“When I started this campaign, I was told people thought I was causing trouble for trouble’s sake,” she said. “There’s a sense that when you’re raising awareness, you should be told to ‘pipe down’. But I didn’t go away. I gathered a group of experts and started to really level up in the campaigning.

“It became less about fighting and raising awareness and more about finding solutions. “I don’t feel the fear of p***ing people off. I’m, like, ‘Let’s just see what we can do’. “There’s that saying, ‘well behaved women never make history’.

“Well, it’s true. And I’ve had this drive to improve things ever since I left hospital in my wheelchair for the first time, because there are so many barriers. “I never knew until then that disabled people couldn’t do things.”