Loose Women star and disability campaigner Sophie Morgan has spoken out after British Airways damaged her wheelchair for the second time
Sophie Morgan recalled being left on the brink of tears after discovering her wheelchair attachment had been damaged during the course of a British Airways flight.
The Loose Women panellist joined Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley to explain how she found herself in this situation for the second time on Friday.
She said: “The attachment that I have for my wheelchair, that’s a battery powered attachment that I travel everywhere with, that’s the thing that’s been damaged. I don’t know what happened to it. I arrived at the aircraft, it was working, when I was reunited with it it wasn’t. I came here this morning and I’m just like, ‘I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be doing this. Why am I still here? Why are we having this conversation?'”
The campaigner revealed that not only has her wheelchair been damaged on two occasions she was also previously “downgraded” on a flight due to her disability.
Sophie’s wheelchair was damaged during the flight (
Image:
ITV)
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Sophie recalled: “I flew for work and I was in a club world business class. And when I arrived at the gate, I was told that the design of these new aircrafts was so that if you required assistance to get into the seat, you wouldn’t be able to access these seats.
“So I was then told I’d be downgraded… what that tells you is that new aircrafts are being designed and they’re designing out disabled people.”
Susanna interjected:”You’re not just asking for the plane to be made accessible, you’re asking that your equipment is not rendered completely unusable when you get off the plane.
“Now, you were, as you say, raging you were on the brink of tears, you had a meeting then with British Airways officials. Now I’m sure they’re very sympathetic, but what are they going to do to make sure this doesn’t happen, not just to a high profile campaigner who, as you say, has access to the television channels, but to everybody in your situation?”
Sophie explained the meeting with British Airways was “productive” but she’s been forced to meet with the airline directly because the “government refused to help”.
“We said [to the government], ‘Please, can you help us and give us some more fines so that the regulators can actually help protect us?’ We were told no.
“Now, the only thing I can do is make an ally of the airlines.”
Sophie has been a user of a wheelchair since she was 18-years-old after being involved in a car accident that left her paralysed from the chest down.
