Holiday 'ruined' after wheelchair broken on plane

A disabled man said his holiday was "ruined" after his bespoke £20k wheelchair was damaged on a plane after it was not secured in the luggage hold and rolled around throughout the flight.

Nathan Rollinson flew from West Sussex's Gatwick Airport to the German city of Munich with EasyJet on 29 November.

Mr Rollinson, from London, told BBC Radio Sussex: "I was independent but now I don't have the chair, I can't walk my dog or even do jobs around the house."

An EasyJet spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for the damage caused to Mr Rollinson’s wheelchair.”

When Mr Rollinson arrived in Germany, the chair got stuck in Munich airport due to a broken wheel sustained on the flight, and he had to leave it there.

He said he had to wait about 90 minutes to be helped off the aircraft when his return flight landed at Gatwick at 01:50 GMT on 1 December - and was then told by a member of EasyJet's disruption team that he could not get a taxi, so was put up in an airport hotel.

He returned home later that day after EasyJet eventually paid for a taxi.

However, Mr Rollinson's wheelchair is still at Gatwick and he had to leave the airport using a children's sized wheelchair.

Mr Rollinson said: "It is an ongoing battle.

"I handed my wheelchair over at the gate at Gatwick when flying.

"When I'd landed, they thought my chair my lost but they found it, unfortunately broken and unusable.

"Mine and my friend's trip was ruined. They had to push me around and I now have bad ribs."

EasyJet, which has accepted responsibility, said: “We know how important it is for customers to feel confident that items like this will be well cared for, so we are looking into this with our ground handling partners to ensure learnings can be taken onboard.

“Our team arranged a temporary replacement chair for Mr Rollinson for the duration of his trip and we are in touch with him to ensure that any expenses he has incurred as a result are covered.”

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