A Paralympic legend was forced to “crawl off” a train arriving at King’s Cross station after no one came to assist her.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, who won 11 Paralympic gold medals across five games, has spoken out after no one helped her off her LNER service when she reached the London station on Monday evening.
The train operator has apologised over the issue and said it is investigating what happened.
The sporting great had travelled down to London ahead of her trip to the Paralympic Games in Paris, which officially begin on Wednesday.
Baroness Grey-Thompson told the BBC’s Today programme that she waited five minutes at King’s Cross station before asking LNER for help on social media.
She said on Tuesday morning: “After 16 minutes of sitting at King's Cross, no-one in sight… I decided that I'd crawl off the train.
“I’m going to Paris later today, I have got a few bags.
“I had to chuck them on the platform, get on the chair and sit on the floor right by the door, which is not particularly pleasant, and then crawl off.”
One of her posts on X, formerly Twitter, said: “@LNER who do I need to call to get off this train!!! It got to KGX 10 mins ago!!!!!”
At 22.17 (train got in at 22.02) I decided to crawl off. Had to move all my stuff onto the platform. Member of cleaning staff offered to help. They’re not insured.
— Tanni Grey-Thompson (@Tanni_GT) August 26, 2024
Another post just over 10 minutes later added: “At 22.17 (train got in at 22.02) I decided to crawl off. Had to move all my stuff onto the platform. Member of cleaning staff offered to help. They're not insured.”
The former athlete said she had booked assistance to help her off the 7.15pm train from Leeds, but missed it and instead travelled on the 7.45pm service to London.
She continued: “I can't really crawl but sit on the floor and drag my legs. There was no one around and I was very angry last night.
“If the train manager hadn't seen me crawling off, I would have had to pull the emergency cord and I would have delayed the train going north.”
An LNER spokesperson told the Standard: “We are sorry to understand there has been an issue at London King’s Cross station on Monday evening.
“We are in the process of investigating this and are in contact with the customer directly.”
