TV PRESENTER Sophie Morgan today unveiled a charter to protect disabled passengers on flights.
She was joined at Westminster by disabled rights groups, celebrities and ex-Home Secretary Lord Blunkett to unveil what she hopes will form part of a Parliamentary bill.
Sophie, 38, has won a promise to look at legal reforms after launching her #rightsonflights campaign after growing tired of being treated “inhumanely” when flying.
She accused British Airways of twice breaking her wheelchair on trips this year.
Sophie has come up with a seven-point manifesto for change which includes fining negligent airlines, making it law for airports and planes to provide proper accessibility, free travel for necessary carers and direct compensation to disabled passengers who are wronged.
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She now hopes Westminster will fast-track the issue saying: "There’s not a moment to lose. This is a crisis."
Sophie, who was paralysed after a near-fatal car accident aged 18, said: "For far too long we have normalised the discrimination disabled people have to endure when flying. But enough is enough.
"If non-disabled people were having their legs broken at the same rate that we are having our chairs broken there would be an outcry. We will not tolerate any further abuse.
"As a wheelchair-user, I’ve been ignored, abandoned, and had wheelchairs damaged and I am not alone.
"We need a more robust, passenger-centric legislation so we have written one and we will not be deterred in our mission to make space for disabled people."
She praised The Sun for supporting her through our Give It Back campaign which demands the Government plugs the funding gap for disabled and special needs children.
She said: "I am so grateful for The Sun’s support on this very important campaign."
Sophie’s charter comes as we reveal alarming new statistics which show a third of disabled people have had cause to complain to an airport, airline or the Civil Aviation Authority watchdog in the past five years.
The figure rises to seven in ten for 18 to 34-year-olds.
Statistics compiled by disability charity Scope UK also show that one in eight disabled people have faced delays for assistance.
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One in 14 are also left stranded on planes without help after take-off or landing and seven per cent say their equipment was lost or damaged.
Charity director of strategy James Taylor said: “For too long airlines have been a law unto themselves.
"The loss of specialist equipment, being treated like a second class citizen, and being unable to board or disembark are all too common experiences for many disabled passengers."
Sophie’s friend, model Katie Piper said she was proud of her friend.
She said: “I think what Sophie has achieved is incredible. I’m so proud of her."
Paralympic basketball player Amy Conroy, 30, who lost a leg to childhood cancer aged 12, said she was once left on a plane for 90 minutes after landing before staff helped her off.
She said: "This law will be monumental for people with disabilities.”
Lord Blunkett, blind from birth, said he too had experienced discrimination while boarding a plane after being asked if he wanted a wheelchair, despite being able bodied.
He said: “Sometimes the easiest thing for airline staff to do is ask people ‘do you need help and, if so, what can I do?’"
Disabled advocate Isaac Harvey, 28, told how he spent hours on the phone to his mum trying to fix his electric wheelchair after it broke during a Ryanair flight earlier this year.
Isaac, who has a genetic condition which means he has no arms and short legs, said: "This law change is a big deal for so many people."
