Wheelchair user left stranded on train platform as staff 'refused to help'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A disabled man was left in tears after being forced to drag himself and his wheelchair up a flight of stairs at a train station when staff refused to help him.

Chris Nicholson documented his nightmare ordeal on Instagram, looking visibly emotional and tired as he said it had "been one of the worst days in a long time", the Mirror reports.

The former rugby player was left stranded at Milton Keynes station on Friday when his train to London was cancelled due to a fire on the line and "all sorts of issues" on the UK's hottest day of the year.

Having been taken off the train, Chris, who had played rugby for England under 16s, 18s and 20s, went to take the lift to another platform but found out it had not been working for a week.But he says Avanti West Coast staff refused to help him up a flight of stairs due to "health and safety" and instead said he'd have to wait five hours in the 31C heat on the platform, as others walked across and caught the next train within 40 minutes.To make matters worse, Chris was in desperate need of the toilet, and with no disabled facilities, he was also told he wouldn't be able to use the able-bodied loos as they, too, were out of order.Explaining that the pressure on his bladder puts pressure on his back, Chris, looking teary-eyed, said he had to make the decision to "bum shuffle" his way up the stairs."Long story short, I was going to have to bum shuffle up the stairs and it was two flights and Avanti said they couldn't help me and were not going to help me because of health and safety and of all those other reasons where they deemed it too much of a risk for them," he said."As a customer to them, they weren't willing to help me, they weren't even willing to take my f****** bags.