An outcry has erupted after a wheelchair-bound fitness fanatic was left stranded on a train stop with a broken elevator and no handicapped bathroom, and employees refused to assist him on the warmest day of the year.
Chris Nicholson, a former rugby player, was on his way to London for a fitness event when his connecting train at Milton Keynes station was cancelled, forcing him to change platforms in order to catch another train.
Chris described one of his “worst days in a long time” on Instagram.
The platform elevator had been out of commission for seven days, leaving the crippled wheelchair user with little choice except to climb the stairs to the next level, which Avanti West Coast workers refused to assist him with for health and safety grounds.
He was told he would have to wait for four to five hours on the platform without access to a disabled toilet while they diverted a train just for him, which would not be necessary if staff assisted him up the stairs.
Those with the ability to change platforms could get on a different train in 40 minutes.
Avanti employees told him he’d have to wait and even denied him access to the able-bodied restrooms, which were also out of service.
According to Chris, with a full bladder causing presure on his lower back, he was left with no option but to ‘bum shuffle’ himself up two flights of stairs. Avanti staff said they could and would not help him because they deemed it ‘too much of a risk to them’.
‘They weren’t willing to even take my f***ing bags,’ he said.
‘A gentleman from platform one saw me struggle and he helped me,’ Chris went on to explain, carrying his wheelchair up the first flight of stairs.
It was only when Chris started crying half way through that station staff started to show concern for him, with the assistant manager complaining to the manager, according to Chris.
‘Because of health and safety reasons, that they would be liable, they couldn’t do the decent human thing and help me,’ Chris said.
After a while, the assistant station manager disobeyed orders and assisted Chris and his baggage up the stairwell.
Chris wished for the station manager to’really think how much it’s actually affected me because I wouldn’t want to see your family go through that.’
‘My back’s in parts, I’m fatigued, and I’m pretty emotional,’ Chris wrote on Instagram after the event. It was one of the worst days I’ve had in a long time. I was excited to come down, but it wasn’t in a favorable location, which is unusual for me.’
Following that, there was a social media outburst, with much of it directed against train service Avanti West Coast.
‘Is this seriously the world we live in?! Honestly disgusted people can still be treated like this,’ one user wrote.
‘@avantiwestcoast Are you seriously this unprofessional, unethical and ableist?’ another said.
Former rugby player and avid fitness enthusiast Chris suffered a spinal and brain injury in 2014 while playing rugby that left him wheelchair bound.
He now speaks about his experience and and the journey he has been on to overcome the trauma and get on with his life.
He has climbed Mt Snowden in his wheelchair and completed the London Marathon.
Avanti West Coast have been contacted for comment.