Wheelchair users should have right to sue airports for poor care, says MP

Wheelchair users should be able to sue airports and airlines which fail to accommodate them, according to an MP who has chosen not to fly “for many years”. Daniel Francis, whose daughter has cerebral palsy, said the prospect of damaged equipment on or after a holiday is “too upsetting to consider”. The Labour MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford laid the Aviation (Accessibility) Bill in the House of Commons on Tuesday, as he called for tighter regulations which airlines and airports must follow to support mobility or visually impaired passengers. Paralympic wheelchair racing champion Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, who is in charge of a Department for Transport aviation accessibility expert group, has vowed to work with Francis to develop new policy. “My family has taken the decision for many years that flying would simply be too much hassle, and the distress of a damaged or lost wheelchair at the end of a flight is too upsetting to consider,” Francis told the Commons, around a decade after the last flight he took with his family – to Spain in 2014. He had earlier said: “All to often, we all hear stories and see videos of wheelchair users being forced to crawl through or off an airplane due to a lack of equipment, knowledge or space on board.” On wheelchair damage, Francis said: “For those that are able to get on a plane in the first place, they are often left with the worry of their wheelchair being damaged in transit or from a lack of knowledge by airport staff. It’s therefore paramount that a single set of rules and regulations are applied to all airlines to promote better knowledge among airline and airport staff to minimise the risk of damages to wheelchair and mobility scooters.”<br/>