A woman has received backlash for faking a broken foot to jump the queue at Manchester Airport.
Charlotte Rees, 32, filmed herself posing in the medical boot in the airport’s car park before wearing it so that she and fiancé Paul Brown, 33, could breeze past people waiting in line for security checks.
She said a friend gave her the boot so that the couple could skip the queue – which she claimed was three hours long – en route to celebrate her birthday in Mallorca.
Rees’s TikTok video shows her walking past a line of people to get priority assistance from airport staff.
The video shows the pair then sitting down for a pre-flight meal, each giving a thumbs up to the camera.
Rees said she ditched the boot in the toilets before she filmed herself walking to the plane unaided in a pair of white plastic sandals.
The caption of her video says: “How to get through airport security in 5 minutes from start to finish when there is a 3 hour que [sic]”.
She was largely criticised for the stunt while a handful of TikTokers said the move was “genius” or “brilliant”.
One person wrote that it was “damn right disgusting”.
Rees replied: “Have a day off will ya”.
A woman called Liv said: “‘Have a day off[?]’... do you think it’s fair that people who are disabled have to live with a condition day in and day out?
“Whilst you just get to pick and choose when to abuse this facility when you have no genuine reason.”
Liv commented: “This really isn’t something you should be sharing or encouraging! Extremely inconsiderate for those who need to use the assistance lane like myself!”
A woman called Penny wrote: “My severely disabled/ autistic children don’t get a day off. Maybe you should think about that when they have to wait as genuine people.
“And block it up for people who actually need it, how selfish”.
Rees replied: “Your opinion is about as important as you, do one”.
Manchester Airport said that the stunt was “totally unacceptable”.
A spokesperson said: “We work hard with our assisted travel provider, ABM, to ensure air travel is accessible to all and that all passengers have a smooth journey through Manchester Airport.
“Anything that undermines our ability to provide the best possible experience to those with the need for assistance is totally unacceptable and cannot be condoned.”
