Wheelchair user refused Eurostar boarding despite booking an accessible space | Woman was told she needed to book a ramp to board the Eurostar, despite holding a wheelchair ticket

9 comments

1. Eurostar apologies in 3..2..1.. What a bunch of dumbfucks at that company.

2. A wheelchair ticket should automatically come with a ramp. Lazy discrimination by Eurostar and its not the first time either. This has been an ongoing problem and again they have a lazy response in fixing it. Its like they don’t want disabled or special needs passengers.

3. Disgraceful behaviour, they should be ashamed and fined

4. should have draged her self in the train without the wheelchair, that would be a specticle loved by Eurostar and people.

5. >A disability activist and [wheelchair](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/wheelchair) user said she was prevented from checking in for [Eurostar](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/eurostar) in [Paris](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/paris) because she had not booked a ramp prior to her journey, despite holding a wheelchair space ticket.

   >Sam Jennings, 46, who uses an electric wheelchair, [posted on X (formerly Twitter)](https://x.com/flowergirl_lon/status/1832753961838768562) on Sunday that Eurostar was “being ridiculous” by telling her she needed to book a ramp on top of purchasing a wheelchair space on the train.

   >“I BOOKED the wheelchair space on a wheelchair priced fare for these trains & I’ve been refused check in BY Eurostar because I haven’t booked a ramp even though I explicitly asked is there anything else I need to do when I was HERE EARLIER,” she wrote, tagging the railway company.

   >After Eurostar replied to Jennings asking for her booking reference, she questioned why she also needed to book a ramp when she had paid for a wheelchair ticket.

   >“Why do we have to have an additional layer/task to travel with you to book a ramp? I’ve paid YOU for a wheelchair space, I know it’s 2024 but wheelchairs can’t levitate onto inaccessible trains yet. It should be automatically booked,” she added.

   >Jennings told the [*BBC* ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz73xy4djvno)that the 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.

   >She added to *The Independent* that when she was sent away from the check-in, they had not asked for her name or her ticket. “They just said: ‘No, you need to go and get the paper for the ramp,’ so they did not know it was me. They couldn’t possibly have been able to check my booking.”

   >After messaging Eurostar on X, Jennings said that a ramp was eventually provided so she could board the train to London, but she said that the incident had been “humiliating” and an “irritant”.

   >Jennings, who was in Paris for the Paralympic Games, said that she checked with staff earlier that day to make sure there was nothing else she needed to do before her trip to the UK, but she was told she did not need to do anything.

   >When the activist then did try to sort out the ramp, she was asked to present papers showing that she needed it, despite being in a wheelchair, describing this to the BBC as “petty power play”.

   >Jennings said she was given a printed-out ticket with the word ‘RAMP’ written on it after she was sent away from check-in *(Sam Jennings)*

   >A Eurostar spokesperson told the BBC that they “apologise for this experience and understand the anxiety this must have caused the passenger while they waited for the issue to be resolved”.

   >They continued: “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.

   >”On this occasion, we acknowledge this is an error on our part. We are improving our systems and tools is a key focus for us, and work has already begun to address this.”

6. When I rode the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam there was a lady in a powered wheelchair riding along. They treated her horribly. They put her on the first train, and when we had our stop to change trains she didn’t have a boarding pass for the second train which caused some trouble. Then when we stopped in Amsterdam they had no assistance to help her move around. The primary exit from the central train station was closed at the time, and it took a while to find a route out of the train station that was suitable for her. (All temporary signs where in Dutch) Never met this woman before in my life, but as clueless American tourists we stuck together, plus I felt she needed someone to be a little more assertive, I think she didn’t want to be a bother and so wasn’t as assertive as needed.

7. Even the US does not have this problem and they don’t even fund transit

8. >They added: “Limited communication via social media led to initial misunderstandings about the issue, as the passenger did not want to be contacted via phone,” they added. “Resolving this issue is our top priority, and we greatly appreciate the passenger’s patience and valuable feedback as we work to improve our systems and enhance the overall experience.”

   Bro, fuck you! They were in the wrong. *They* fucked up. All on them, despite previous contact and all.

   And they have the balls to blame the contact medium?

9. In PARIS???

   I was 100% sure this was a classic Italian thing.