Paralympic icon Tanni Grey-Thompson confessed to having been the subject of online abuse after sharing her experience of being forced to “crawl off” a train at King’s Cross station in London.
The 11-time gold medal winner in wheelchair racing encountered the issue last Monday (August 26) while heading to the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
The athlete arrived at the station after 10 pm, and no assistance was provided for her to disembark the train, leaving her in the awkward position of having to wait for someone to come and help or crawl off.
Grey-Thompson would later voice her frustration on X, saying she waited for 16 minutes before taking matters into her own hands, criticizing the lack of support from the London North Eastern Railway (LNER).
“Call your carer. Stop moaning and get off that train clown,” read one of the more offensive comments.
Paralympics legend Tanni Grey-Thompson reveals she faced online hate after complaining about having to “crawl off” a train while on her way to the 2024 Paris Summer Games
The athlete recounted her experience in an interview with The Guardian:
“I got down on the floor, pushed my bags and wheelchair off the train, and then climbed down myself. I started shouting on the platform, but there was no one around. I have a pretty loud voice – I can scream across a 400m track.”
She was eventually helped by a train manager from another service bound for Leeds who saw her struggling on the platform, but before that, she had to wait for more than 10 minutes, during which she tweeted for assistance to LNER in real-time.
“At 22:17 (the train arrived at 22:02) I decided to crawl off. I had to move all my belongings onto the platform. A cleaning staff member offered to help, but they’re not insured,” reads one of the posts.
David Horne, the managing director of LNER, got ahold of her messages and later offered his apologies, acknowledging on a reply post: “Something clearly went wrong, and we let you down. We’ll investigate what happened and share the details.”
However, the responses to the champion’s calls for help on X left her dumbfounded, as despite receiving a large amount of support, the overall reaction was mixed, with a number of rude comments being left.
“Entitled?” read one reply.
“What, did you forget your carer?” asked another.
The Paralympian, who holds the title of Baroness and is a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, felt deeply offended by the reactions some users had to the embarrassment she went through aboard one of LNER’s trains, and she issued a response hours later.
“To the ableist people who have said I should stay at home, not work, not expect to travel on a bank holiday, not travel on my own… Ummm not happening,” she replied.
Despite being offered apologies and reparations by LNER’s director and members of the Department of Transportation, Grey-Thompson believes there’s much to be done
For Grey-Thompson, the apology offered by LNER’s director wasn’t enough, as she highlighted that she and other disabled people frequently endure humiliating situations when boarding and disembarking trains.
“He apologized, but so what? They’re nice people, but that doesn’t change much.”
The baroness also believes the apology is not entirely honest and was done mainly as an effort to save face due to her high profile.
“They’ll look into it because it’s me. But what about everyone else who isn’t me? That’s what angers me the most.”
In her interview, the Paralympian also revealed that a number of officials at the Department of Transportation acknowledged the situation and want to hold a meeting with her to discuss the issue as soon as she returns from Paris.
“This is about dignity for disabled passengers. When are they going to address level boarding on trains?” she continued, explaining that the implementation of the measure was originally mandated in the 90s but has yet to be carried out fully.
Her problems are not limited to this one experience, however, as two years ago, she had to crawl off a train at Euston. Just a week before the recent incident, she was told she couldn’t board a train to Aylesbury due to the staff “not being trained to use a disabled ramp.”
The Baroness won 11 gold medals as a wheelchair competitor and successfully transitioned into television before being made a member of the House of Lords
Born as Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, the athlete began her career as a 15-year-old in the 100m competition at the 1984 Junior National Games for Wales.
Her international debut came four years later in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where she won a bronze medal. Her successful Paralympics run would continue for 16 more years, with her last appearance as a competitor being at the 2004 Athens Games, where she won two gold medals in the 100m and 400m categories of wheelchair racing.
Afterward, she retired with 16 medals in total, 11 of which were gold, and she became a television presenter on BBC Wales and S4C, as well as BBC One.
Her parliamentary career began in March 2010, when she was conferred her full title of Baroness Grey-Thompson of Eaglescliffe. She swore the oath of allegiance in both English and Welsh and became an official member of the House of Lords.
Grey-Thompson is also a detractor of Scottish independence, as she was one of 200 public figures who signed a letter opposing the motion to The Guardian in the run-up to the 2014 referendum on that issue.
The 2024 Paralympics are underway and feature 549 events across 22 sports. The games will be held until its closing ceremony on September 8
The incident occurred just a day before the 2024 Summer Paralympics opening last Wednesday (August 28,) which will last until September 8, 2024, and will be host to 549 events across 22 sports.
This year’s edition of the event also marks the debut of countries like Eritrea, Kiribati, and Kosovo, as well as the return of Bangladesh, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, East Timor, Macau, Myanmar, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkmenistan, all of which were absent from previous versions.
Viewers can catch the event in full through Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), which will provide live coverage for all 22 Paralympic sports. This is in addition to local channels that have bought the rights to the show, like France’s Channel 4 and Canada’s CBC Sports, among others.
The Games will also be streamed on YouTube via a partnership with the International Paralympics Committee (IPC), including event coverage, highlights, and YouTube Shorts content.
Grey-Thompson’s response to the hateful comments she received garnered her the support of viewers and fans, who made her reply go viral with one million views and 800 comments.
“Shame on them. Absolute disgrace. I still get comments occasionally saying ‘people like me’ shouldn’t travel in the rush hour,” wrote one of her disabled fans.
“You commentating from the Paralympics in Paris is the best riposte to them. So I’m looking forward to hearing from you and watching the games!”
“Stuff ’em – every time you leave your home to go to work, to visit a school, to attend the Paralympics you are changing the world,” another stated.
“Sorry that you’re receiving abuse for your experience, Tanni. I’ve been in numerous situations before where nobody has come with the ramp to get me off,” one fellow wheelchair user wrote.
“Sorry to hear about your horrible experience. Thanks for all the campaigning you do. Definitely don’t stop,” said another.
Despite the embarrassing experience she had to endure and the rude comments she had to read, Grey-Thompson’s spirits remain high.
“I just want the same miserable commuting experience as everyone else. I’m not asking for a gold-plated carriage,” she said jokingly.
“The lack of empathy is frightening,” one user wrote as others joined in to offer their support to the Paralympian
