BBC journalist Frank Gardner expressed outrage at being left on a plane after landing at Gatwick.
The security correspondent, who uses a wheelchair, was stranded on the plane after flying to West Sussex Airport on Iberia Express on Thursday evening.
A passenger with reduced mobility died in Gatwick on 15 June. He fell while climbing an escalator after leaving a plane unmanned.
Gardner has been left on planes at UK airports several times in recent years.
At the time of the latest incident, he posted an image on Twitter from inside the plane, with no other passengers visible.
FFS not again! I’ve just returned from a grueling week covering the NATO summit in Madrid and, surprise surprise, I’m still stuck on the plane at Gatwick. The Iberia crew left and a new crew came on board. WHY are UK airports so consistent about removing disabled people from planes? pic.twitter.com/KuJz4eIJCy
— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) June 30, 2022
He wrote: “FFS not again! I’ve just returned from a grueling week covering the NATO summit in Madrid and, surprise surprise, I’m still stuck on the plane at Gatwick.
“The Iberia crew left and a new crew came on board.
“WHY are UK airports so consistent about taking disabled people off planes?”
He added: “This never happens abroad, only in Britain.”
After he was able to leave the plane, Gardner wrote: “I’m off the plane now – only 20 minutes late, which is easy – but ground operators said ‘no one told us there was a disabled passenger on board.’
“The airline, Iberia, insist they did.
“All in all, so boring and boring!”
A Gatwick spokesman said: “We apologize for the delay Mr Gardner experienced on this occasion.
“We are working closely with our aid provider Wilson James to establish the reasons for this.
“At this stage it appears that there has been no booking of special assistance from the airline for Mr Gardner.
“However, as soon as we were notified, the team responded and Mr Gardner was assisted within 20 minutes.
“We aim to provide the best possible service to all passengers, so we will continue to look into this with Wilson James and the airline concerned.”
“Again, we apologize for Mr Gardner’s delay in returning from the NATO summit in Madrid.”
Gardner was left partially paralyzed after al Qaeda gunmen shot him in Saudi Arabia in 2004.
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