A BBC reporter who was left paralysed by an Al-Qaeda gunman in Saudi Arabia 2004 has been left furious after being stranded on plane at Gatwick Airport.
Journalist and wheelchair user Frank Gardner, 60, expressed outrage when he was left on the plane of the busy West Sussex airport when he flew there with Iberia Express on Thursday night.
This, however, is not the first time the security correspondent has been left on a plane. It has happened several other times in different UK airports in recent years.
In 2018 alone, Mr Gardner said he had been left on planes twice in six months.
During the latest incident incident - which happened today - he posted an image on Twitter from inside the aircraft.
No other passengers can be seen in sight.
Mr Gardner wrote on social media: "FFS not again! Just back from exhausting week covering Nato summit in Madrid and quelle surprise, I'm still stuck on the plane at Gatwick. Iberia crew are gone and a new crew has come onboard.
"Just WHY are UK airports so consistently crap at getting disabled people off planes?"
He added: "It never happens abroad, only in UK."
Once he was able to leave the aircraft, Mr Gardner wrote: "Off the plane now - only a 20-minute delay which is mild - but ground handlers said 'nobody told us there was a disabled passenger onboard'. Airline, Iberia, insist they did. All in all, so tedious and boring!"
A Gatwick spokeswoman said: "We apologise for the delay Mr Gardner experienced on this occasion. We have been working closely with our assistance provider, Wilson James, to establish the reasons for this.
"At this stage, it appears there was no special assistance booking from the airline for Mr Gardner. However, as soon as we were made aware, the team responded and Mr Gardner received assistance within 20 minutes.
"We strive to provide the best possible service to all passengers so will continue to look into this with Wilson James and the airline concerned. We apologise again for any delay Mr Gardner experienced returning from the Nato summit in Madrid."
People have been left fuming that the journalist was left abandoned. One wrote: "Should be first off. It seems that this is our norm. So wrong."
And another said: "New rule should be brought in that crew cannot leave until all passengers have left the plane. They would soon get it sorted if it was going to cause them a delay in getting the plane ready with the new crew."
And a third chimed in saying: "The crew should never leave the aircraft whilst a passenger is onboard. At least one crew member must remain onboard in case it’s necessary to evacuate."
