Eurostar has come under criticism after activist Sam Jennings was prevented from boarding a Eurostar service to London for not booking a ramp, despite purchasing a ticket for a wheelchair space. Jennings said that staff at Gare du Nord station in Paris had “watched me queue to check in, then turned me round when I got to the front and sent me away to the office” to book a ramp, yet she was in an electric wheelchair when staff asked her to produce papers showing she needed a ramp to board the train. She eventually received a ramp, yet her frustration was clear on Twitter where she tweeted at Eurostar. Ms. Jennings told the Evening Standard “It seemed like a petty power play”. The latest issue follows her complaints of dozens of “zero access fails”, ranging “from being left on trains, to people refusing to help me with the ramp”.
Eurostar has issued an apology, stating that her ramp booking had been missed when information had been shared between systems and staff. In a statement, Eurostar said “We apologise for this experience and understand the anxiety this must have caused the passenger while they waited for the issue to be resolved. After further investigation, we’ve discovered due to human error, the passenger’s ramp booking was missed when the information was shared between systems. Rest assured that when a passenger books a wheelchair space on our London routes, the ramp is automatically reserved.”
Ms. Jennings expressed her anger with Eurostar claiming posters on the trains said that the company was supporting Paralympic teams at the recent Paralympic games. She added that this support was a “song and dance,” which was not reflected in the reality for wheelchair users. Her difficulties continued in Paris, where even though she had felt like she was “part of something much bigger” attending the Paralympics, the city was inaccessible and “astonishingly they had an accessible vehicle shuttle for disabled people, but you had to book it 48 hours in advance.”
This is not Ms. Jennings first struggle with accessibility and exclusive venues, as in February 2023, she was prevented from handing in a campaigning letter to 10 Downing Street because a suitable ramp was not provided for her to reach the front door
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