Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson Left To ‘Crawl’ Off Of Train | This Morning

with I can't believe this story because I thought we we dealt with this situation very publicly with baroness uh tany gray Thompson back in 2000 sports Personality Awards but um the lack of wheelchair assistance at Kings Cross station resulted in baroness tany gray Thompson 16-time paralympic wheelchair racing champion and absolute Legend of sports having to crawl off the train by herself on Monday night as she made her way to the Paro Olympic games um she's been very outspoken about this and rightly so um and we're going to speak to you guys in a minute first of allg we're going to cross over to baroness Tanny gay Thompson who's joined us from Paris good morning Tanny how are you I'm really good thank you morning it's lovely to see you you're in Paris at the moment for the par Olympics I am yeah it's looking great actually uh and um yeah we're hoping for good things from the British team H not the ideal start for you before we even got off British saw tell us what happened at the train station the other night so I was going from Leeds to London uh I missed the train I actually booked assistance for uh got to the station quarter of an hour before the next train asked you know could I get on that train they said yes I was helped on and when I got to Kings Cross there was no one to meet me so uh you meant to give it about five minutes you know for for someone to come and get you off that didn't happen uh and when it got to 16 minutes uh I was sort posting on social media I was calling the assistant line trying to get in touch with someone I ended up just like screaming from the train I mean I can shout across a 400 meter track so I was being very loud um um and yeah 16 minutes later no one came so I decided to to get off so had to transfer from my chair to the floor then push my chair off and put my other stuff on the platform and then get off the train um a cleaner did offer to help but they're not insured did and to be fair the cleaner couldn't do anything I couldn't do myself um and then as I was getting into my chair a member of Staff saw me and came over wow Tanny that is honestly unbelievable I've never heard of anything like it having to physically crawl off the train I mean how did that make you feel uh at that moment really angry um and then partly you know I've got a platform uh I'm quite resilient from being an athlete so you know it's it's I can do it there's loads of disabled people that can't I looked at whether I could pull the emergency cord which would have stopped the train moving north um I couldn't actually reach it um I I think somebody said to me was it humiliating it was like that bit wasn't but the fact that you know we do have legal right to turn up and go but if you haven't booked you turn up at a train station you've almost got a plead you know to to get on a train you know can I get H his no I haven't booked and that's the thing all I want is the same miserable experience of commuting as everyone else I not asking for anything else I mean I just want to get on and off a train but but there's been lots of support lots of disabled people have written to me to say you know they've had similar experiences and there's also been a backlash I've had a lot of you're entitled you shouldn't be out on your own on a holiday it's your fault for getting left on a train uh and that's sort of quite interesting as well in terms of people who think that disabled people should be locked away gosh um I'm I'm delighted to say I know Tanny quite well I would never speak to Tanny like that she will rip you up hard Tanny uh your train was you missed your train so you were on the second train and you hadn't organized for help on the later train but I guess the point here is you shouldn't have to ring ahead now I know the infrastructure is old a lot of these station the newer stations are probably better equipped but you shouldn't have to think ahead like that you should be able to commute just like everybody else right yes so I'd gone to the assistance desk they agreed for me to get on the train somebody put me on that train so somebody knew that I was on the train uh and whether it's a breakdown in communication you know human failure happens absolutely but in that moment when I was stuck it realizes you you realize how few options that are available to you and every train company's got a different system you know the booking app is only you know basically a web page that links to all the everyone's got a different system and you know the system is is pretty broken um you know I I take a lot of train Journeys every year um and you know every time I worry about whether I'm going to be able to get off uh and it is it's quite stressful and you've got to leave extra time to get to the You' got to be at the station 30 minutes before your train you've got to leave leave time you know because you don't know how long it's going to take to get off it probably takes me it's a couple of hours of my week every week that is just spent planning uh for me to get on a train and basically getting on a train for me to go to work it's like it's just not good enough is it and I have to say it's something that you're not always aware of when you're able-bodied and only my small experience has been since having a baby and having a push chair even something with wheels have it's opened my eyes to how inaccessible so many places are if there is a lift half the time it's out of order getting on off trains onto tubes or trams it's a daily struggle if you are disabled I think it's it's awful this has struck such a cord with our viewers we're getting so many messages coming in uh lety said I've actually been asked to move out of a disabled Bay before because the event organizer decided I wasn't disabled enough I have a hidden disability and I actually fear the Judgment because of experiences like this there's so many messages here as well I mean this one from Sarah my disabled daughter has been visiting colleges over the last 10 months and we were shocked at the attitudes of the staff she was met with a list of things they won't and they can't do and a list of things that she has to be able to do herself um or she can't attend there there was no warm welcome no discussion about her needs which what should happen she's been made to feel like she's not wanted and it's too much trouble do you find Tanny that a lot of it does feel like it's on you it's all on you yeah absolutely so you know um with with trains if there's a failure the first thing a any train company will say was did you book well whether I booked or not somebody put me on a train there is a system you they won't give you anymore the phone numbers for the train stations uh there's there's two that I know that you can contact UM somebody on the platform Paddington and and Houston but it's only because I travel a lot that I know those two numbers even exist so yeah the disabled people are blamed all all the time and things have moved on you know been a wheelchair user a long time um you know but it's I thought we'd be done for with fighting for some of this stuff by now and you know I'm resilient you know I I can I can look after myself there's so many disabled people if somebody been an electric wheelchair user I I don't know what they would have done they could have ended up going back up north again and only when you know they came through to check tickets would they've been found to be on on the train you know it's it's it's just a big exhausting to be honest tny I'm so glad you're using your powerful voice because it's going to help a lot of people out there and uh as ever articulate and can but I'm sure you must be absolutely Furious have a great Paralympics by the way I'm feeling another record hall for team GB yeah it's going to be good I mean we're going to see some amazing performances Paris want to you know beat London London was you know the the watershed moment for the game so uh we're looking for for some really good performances out here oh thanks so much for your time Tanny we speak to say take care of yourself just to say ellr have given us a statement that said we're sorry to understand there has been an issue at King's cross station on Monday evening we're in the process investigating this and are in contact with the customer directly is tny gay Thompson of course Nick whats even more disappointing about this Nick is that it was December two 2000 I think when Tanny rightley won a BBC sports Personality the Year award and she couldn't receive it on the stage because they hadn't put a ramp in oh um we're still having the same conversations remember it vividly and I'm struck by what Sean just said with the number of people number of your viewers who are getting involved you're absolutely right she's got a powerful voice I've had the privilege of meeting her a number of times but I do think this is something that needs to be taken up possibly by an MP or two because there are people out there who should not be treated in this fashion this is almost like Victorian days and action must be taken then swiftly I mean this is the problem Tim isn't it some of the stations are in structurally Victorian days there is a physical issue a train's pulling up to a platform and gaps and it will take big investment to fix it but it's investment they just simply have to to do right well sometimes it's not even about investment it's just about common decency the reality is somebody put her on a train they could have just made a phone call a radio signal a a carer pedion whatever just to let them know that Dame tamy was coming on her way and could somebody just meet her it wasn't complicated I worked on tfl for a number of years this was not a complicated thing but you also raised the important point someone with a buggy um we've had Sophie on here on airplanes there's been a number of different conversations we need a minister to grab hold of this as Nick said just to own this and take responsibility and kick these companies into action yeah I sometimes think as well it is just the lack of human contact and all these points more and more staff are being Stripped Away aren't they and this is where we're getting the problems because there's no one with common sense just out and about to notice these things as my mom said common sense is sometimes not common though absolutely she's a wise lady thank you for visiting our this morning YouTube channel now we upload new content every day so go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out and we'll see you in the morning