A disabled man's "ridiculous" ordeal at Manchester Airport left him feeling like a "hostage" as he was forced to call police to be rescued.
Daryl Tavernor, 33, has spinal muscular atrophy and requires special assistance, but he says he was left stranded on the plane for two hours after the delayed flight from Rome arrived in Manchester at 2.30am. But the nightmare continued when he was then stuck at border control for another 90 minutes before calling the police.
Daryl, of Stoke-on-Trent, requires special assistance to get him off the plane, and into his wheelchair which was kept in the hold during the flight on May 26. But that morning, help did not come straight away, the Manchester Evening News reported.
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He said: "All the other passengers were able to get off the plane as quickly as they could. It usually only takes around 10 to 15 minutes for special assistance to get me off the plane. But it was just me and the crew and captain stuck for another two hours.
"The captain got so annoyed he went to find special assistance himself. I was told they didn't come straight away as they don't usually have planes landing at this time, but they can't plead ignorance, the captain would have told them everything on our way.
"At this point I've been on the plane for five-and-a-half hours, I was extremely uncomfortable and just wanted to be in my chair. The person they sent for me really struggled to get me off the plane, I'm not a heavy guy but this person really struggled."
It wasn't until 4.30am that Daryl was back in his chair and into Terminal 3, but the nightmare continued when no staff were found at border control, leading to frantic phone calls by special assistance to get Daryl out. At around 6am Daryl eventually took matters into his hands and called the police.
He said: "When we finally got to border control there just wasn't anybody there, this really put them into a panic. They were ringing their bosses, but he couldn't get hold of anyone. Nobody seemed to be able to phone border force, this went on for a good hour.
"I was pleading for them to just let me through, even if it had to be a fire exit or something. It became very clear very quickly that airport staff have no line of communication at all with security staff, which I found concerning.
"I felt like I was being held hostage so I had no other option but to call the police. I got through to GMP who have a station at the airport and within 10 minutes five border agents were there.
"Apparently they had no idea I was here, despite special assistance trying to get through to them. They said they only knew because police had contacted them. I basically had no other option but to take it out of the airport's hands."
Manchester Airport has come under fire in recent months following reports of chaos as people wait hours in queues and report not getting their luggage.
Daryl wanted to share his story to raise awareness of how wheelchair users have been treated at airports in recent months. He said: "The way they treat disabled people is terrible, it needs to change"
"I know a lot of people with the same disability as me and so many have had a similar experience. These experiences make us feel like an obstacle, a complication that airports don't like dealing with. The system feels very understaffed and people aren't given proper training.
"The airport hand us off to a third party and don't take responsibility for looking after us. There needs to be more awareness of this and it needs to change."
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: "We are sorry to hear that Mr Tavernor had a disappointing experience and will work with our special assistance provider to understand how a repeat of this might be avoided. We, and others in our industry including airlines, baggage handlers and assistance providers, are experiencing staff shortages at present due to the rapid pace at which travel has recovered from the pandemic. We are working tirelessly to address this as quickly as possible through a major recruitment drive, and to mitigate these challenges as best we can in the meantime."
An ABM spokesperson said: "We understand the importance of the special assistance service we provide passengers, and delivering that service with efficiency, respect, and care is critical. We regret any time when our service does not meet that standard, and are working with our teams and partners in examining Mr Tavernor’s experience.
"We are currently experiencing higher volumes of passengers who require special assistance than our busiest pre-pandemic peak while the entire industry continues to face resource challenges. We know that we are not alone in managing these issues and understand the inconvenience and emotional impact this all may have on individuals travelling, particularly those requiring additional assistance. We are working in collaboration with all our clients and partners to minimise the impact as we navigate this phase of the pandemic recovery."
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