A disabled woman has claimed that she would have been left to die after a late night fire alarm at a Premier Inn.
Dr Hannah Barham-Brown, who uses a wheelchair, was staying at the Premier Inn County Hall hotel near Waterloo in London, when the incident happened.
She told the Mirror she was assured that someone would come and get her if the alarm went off, but she claims no-one showed up and she had no way of contacting the front desk.
Dr Barham-Brown, is the ex-deputy Leader of The Women’s Equality Party and is now a governor of accessibility charity Motability, had been in the capital to attend a Motability event at the House of Lords, when the incident occurred.
In her hotel room just an hour before the alarm went off, Dr Barham-Brown posted on her Instagram stories that she was “terrified of what would happen if there was a fire alarm” - only for her worst fears to become reality.
She said: "I was woken at 1.15am by a fire alarm, I’d been told earlier in the day that if there was a fire alarm to stay put and someone would come to me - but they didn’t."
Dr Barham-Brown claims she was left with no way of contacting the front desk as she “doesn’t think there was a phone” in her room, just an emergency button.
“The door of my room had evacuation instructions but even though it was an accessible room, the instructions were for non-disabled people," she added.
After 15 minutes Dr Barham-Brown realised no-one was coming to help her evacuate.
She said: “I could hear everyone else evacuating so I got in my chair and rolled to the top of the staircase because I know from previous training, that's the safest place to be.”
Dr Barham-Brown was found by her colleagues who were also staying at the hotel, and claims they helped her get down the four flights of stairs to the basement exit.
She added that her colleagues also helped her back up the 15 steps at the entrance, after they retrieved her wheelchair from the upper floor.
She claims she was told by staff that although roles were handed out ahead of the drill, no-one had been allocated to collect her.
“A member of staff came and said 'We're really sorry, but we divided all the roles between us and there wasn't anyone left to come and get you', to which I said, 'You're telling me you would have left me there'," she recalled.
"And they said 'well yes, I suppose so'."
She added: "There was never any indication from them that it wasn’t an emergency situation.
"If I had followed their advice and it had been a real fire, I would’ve been left to die."
She says she doesn’t know when she’ll feel safe to independently travel again, claiming “it makes me incredibly scared and angry because I shouldn't be placing my life in the hands of people who demonstrate so clearly they do not care".
Dr Barham-Brown claims staff told her that the building's Grade II status hindered its ability to provide accessibility for disabled guests, but that the Motability employee who booked the hotel for her was not informed of this.
A Premier Inn spokesperson told the Mirror: "Premier Inn London County Hall forms part of the wider County Hall Complex which has Listed status, and this places constraints on the way we can operate this hotel.
"For example, previous schemes to enhance access for mobility-impaired guests, including the proposed installation of ramps at the front of the building have been unsuccessful because of this. For this reason, our booking process clearly explains that our team members will need to help guests who use wheelchairs in and out of the building, and we apologise for the inconvenience this understandably may cause.
"We are sorry Dr Barham-Brown was frustrated with many aspects of her stay at this hotel, including finding the security gates - which are managed by the landlord - shut. Premier Inn do not operate these gates nor have keys to them, but our team were of course pleased to assist in contacting the third-party security team to allow access - we will be picking this up with the landlord.
"We have robust fire evacuation procedures and are confident these were followed correctly on the occasion of this false alarm – a team member was dispatched to assist Dr Barnham-Brown within minutes of it sounding but found she had already chosen to leave. We have already reached out to the guest and welcome the opportunity to speak about any aspect of her experience directly."
