Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson forced to 'crawl' off train at Kings Cross Station
27 August 2024, 09:34 | Updated: 27 August 2024, 17:04
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has been forced to 'crawl off' an LNER train at Kings Cross Station after no station staff came to help her alight her train.
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The eleven-time Paralympic wheelchair champion took to X formerly Twitter to live-blog the incident, which took place just after 10pm on Monday, as she attempted to get the train operator's attention.
Stuck aboard the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train service for around 20 minutes, she tweeted: "Hey @lner, my train has arrived at KGX and there is no one to get me off."
Moments after the initial tweet, she provided an update, writing: "cleaning crew are on board".
Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson shares the shocking moment she was forced to 'crawl' off a train
Labelling the incident a "bit awkward", the former athlete flagged that the train was preparing to return to the North imminently and that she needed to disembark.
She tweeted: "Bit awkward. I’m off the Paris tomorrow for the Paralympics. And the train was going north at 23.00," she wrote from the carriage.
At 22.17 (train got in at 22.02) I decided to crawl off. Had to move all my stuff onto the platform. Member of cleaning staff offered to help. They’re not insured.
— Tanni Grey-Thompson (@Tanni_GT) August 26, 2024
Yet despite attempting to flag that she was alone aboard the train, no station staff came to her aid, with the member of cleaning staff saying they were "not insured" to assist her.
"I can't really crawl but sit on the floor and drag my legs. There was no one around and I was very angry last night," she said following the incident.
"If the train manager hadn't seen me crawling off, I would have had to pull the emergency cord and I would have delayed the train going north," she added.
Grey-Thompson competed in wheelchair racing for Britain for 16 years before announcing her retirement, winning 16 Paralympic medals over the course of her career.
Recent years have seen the former athlete become a television pundit, as well as a disabled rights activist.
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During the incident, the Paralympian continued to tweeted the company, next flagging that she had been left alone on the train and that the train operator's cleaning staff had now also alighted.
"Cleaning crew are now leaving the train !!!! Who do I need to call to get off this train !!! It got to KGX 10 mins ago !!!!!"
It comes as rail boss David Horne apologised to the former athlete, explaining: "we've let you down".
LNER has now said it is investigating the incident, responding to Ms Grey-Thompson's tweets with: "sorry to understand there was an issue".
An LNER spokesperson said: "We are sorry to understand there has been an issue at London King’s Cross station on Monday evening.
"We are in the process of investigating this and are in contact with the customer directly."
