Heartless! Disabled Thomas fan told he can’t dress as Fat Controller
IT was a big day out that one vulnerable man had been looking forward to for months – wearing his own Fat Controller outfit to a Thomas the Tank Engine event.
But 27-year- old Gareth Bell, who has a mental age of four, was distraught after a train station official demanded he remove his fancy dress costume – accusing him of impersonating staff.
Railway enthusiast Mr Bell, who has a disorder called Angelman Syndrome, wore his favourite costume, that of Sir Topham Hatt, to the family day.
However, he was forced to remove his cap, tie and jacket by an official who claimed he was a health and safety risk as other passengers may confuse him with a bona fide staff member.
Mr Bell’s family say he was also told to sit away from passengers to save confusion. Mr Bell, who has severe learning difficulties, lives with his parents and even has his own mock train control room in his garden. His mother Laurie Bell, 52, said: ‘Gareth has always loved trains and he adores Thomas. I just wanted the ground to swallow me up and I thought I was going to start crying.
‘But I kept my emotions in check because Gareth was unaware of what was happening.
‘When I asked him to take off his costume he told me: “Bad Mummy”.’ She added: ‘Gareth is a gentle giant. He is a toddler in a big man’s body.
‘ The man asked if Gareth could remove his hat, jacket and tie because he was impersonating a member of staff. I was also told he had to sit further along the platform away from all the other visitors. They blamed health and safety. I’m totally broken and can’t stop crying about what happened.’
Mr Bell eventually travelled on the Thomas replica on Saturday but with his uniform left on the station bench. Mr Bell’s father Robert said the experience contrasted with the family’s visit to the Flying Scotsman in Perth, Scotland, earlier this year, an event his son attended dressed as ‘Station Master Gareth’. He said: ‘The staff there did everything they could to accommodate him.. Gareth is 6ft 3in and doesn’t look like he has learning difficulties, but not everybody that is disabled is in a wheelchair.’
A spokesman for the volunteerrun Caledonian Railway in Brechin, Scotland, apologised and has invited Gareth, of Dundee, back to make amends. He said: ‘We are not here to single anybody out and this was a case of miscommunication between the two parties. We would like to clear the air and invite Gareth to join us next weekend at the station.’
The Fat Controller was created, along with Thomas and the other engines, by Reverend W. Awdry in his books The Railway Series, first published in 1945. The TV adaptation, Thomas and Friends, was first aired in 1984.