A dad says he had to be carried off a plane by his wife after staff working at Gatwick airport mistakenly put his wheelchair on the baggage carousel, leaving it with irreparable damage.
Mark Parrin returned to Gatwick on Wednesday after a three-week holiday to Tenerife with his wife Nicola.
The dad-of-three, who has been a wheelchair user since 1990 after suffering a spinal injury, had requested special assistance in advance of the easyJet flight.
But when the couple landed at Gatwick, near Crawley, West Sussex they were left waiting an hour and 20 minutes for the assistance team to turn up, they have claimed.
When the staff members finally arrived to help the stranded passengers off the plane, Mark says he was told his £2,000 wheelchair had accidentally been taken out of the hold and sent to baggage reclaim, along with their luggage.
On arriving at the baggage carousel, the 57-year-old claims he then discovered his wheelchair had been damaged as the right wheel had been bent and buckled.
Mark said he is angry at the lack of customer service he says was shown.
"I've got a few colleagues that worked in the same field as I did who had a few horror stories about this but up until now I've had no problems," he told Kent Live.
"It was interesting to be on the receiving end. We were out in the airfield as the plane didn't stop directly at the terminal. Everyone else had left by the steps.
"You can accept a 15 minute delay, but this eventually turned into an hour and 20 minutes. We kept the poor taxi driver waiting for over two hours.
"I was pretty calm, but as time went on I started to get a bit annoyed. Because of the delay, my wheelchair was taken off the tarmac and went to the baggage carousel with all the other luggage.
"I had to struggle, with the assistance of my wife and one of the assistance guys, to hobble onto the nearest airport buggy.
"Without your chair, it starts to dawn on you that this situation is really irritating.
"Your independence is totally taken away and there's no thought given to people that need assistance. Everyone was starting to get a bit agitated."
Mark says in over 30 years flying as a wheelchair user he's never experienced more than a five minute delay for assistance at any airport worldwide.
Those needing assistance are normally helped once other passengers have already left the plane.
Mark's lightweight chair had been damaged on the right hand side.
Mark says the staff working at Gatwick showed a complete lack of understanding and that he didn't receive an apology.
He added: "My wife didn't look happy. When I got closer I could see that the wheel was completely buckled.
"It was so bent up that we were unable to push the chair. I had to take one of the sides of the chair just so that it could actually move.
"I must admit, it made me feel sick as soon as I saw it. As a wheelchair user, your mobility and independence are gone, all through someone not thinking.
"We were told you have to register it with the baggage people. The only advice they could give was to contact easyJet and claim through them.
"There was no apology and I received zero customer service - basically they told us to be on our way.
"To see the lack of customer service and assistance staff on the ground is just demoralising. We pay the same as everyone else, so we do expect a service.
"They just throw it on the conveyor like a suitcase. It's not the sort of equipment you're going to have two of at home.
"I've filled in the form on EasyJet telling them about the damage and got an email back saying it will take 10 days to process. I've now got a chair that I can't use, so what am I meant to do in the meantime?"
In a statement a Gatwick Airport spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about this incident and have escalated it to our assisted services provider, Wilson James, to investigate as a priority."
A spokesperson for Wilson James said: "We apologise to Mr Parrin for the poor service he had with us at Gatwick; his experience falls far below our standards for delivery.
"We have investigated this incident and can confirm that the delay was due to an unanticipated spike in operational requests during the time, and for which we take responsibility.
"The PRM service requires collaboration across airport service providers and wheelchairs are handled by groundcrew staff, so we are unable to provide specific information in this case, but we know the impact that damage to mobility devices has on their owners.
"We have reached out to Mr. Parrin personally to apologise, discuss his experience and offer service recovery."
EasyJet confirmed it is in the processing of contacting Mark to arrange for repairs to his wheelchair and provision of a replacement in the meantime.
A spokesperson said they will also be offering him a gesture of goodwill to apologise for his experience.
They added: "We are very sorry for the damage caused to Mr Parrin's wheelchair at the airport and for his experience on arrival at London Gatwick.
"We know how important it is for customers to feel confident that items like this will be well cared for when travelling with us and that they will be provided with the assistance they need at the airport, so we are looking into this with our ground handling partners at Gatwick and with the airport's special assistance provider.
"We have been in touch with Mr Parrin to ensure his wellbeing, arrange for repairs for his wheelchair and provision of replacement in the meantime, as well as providing a gesture of goodwill to apologise for his experience and further discuss his feedback to ensure these learnings are applied."
