Airport story was not major news

RECENTLY the BBC News had a high-profile item regarding a disabled man who was “forced to drag himself through Luton Airport along the floor”, complete with video and journalists saying how disgraceful it was that this could happen.

Now while I have every sympathy for the chap who has lost the use of his legs due to a surgery that did not go to plan, but we needed to go down to the almost postscript to get the full picture.

It surely is not just me that wonders why the chap chose to reject the assistance of the airport and their wheelchair as it “would remove his independence” because it was not a chair that could be propelled by himself. He then got his accompanying friends to simply video this “dreadful situation” rather than actually help him in his plight. And then, surprise surprise, the video ends up in the hands of the BBC who think that it is a major news story.

Actually no, it is not a major news story. What we have here is a chap with a massive chip on his shoulder who expected Luton Airport to have on standby every type of disability aid that has ever existed, just in case someone may want to use it and simply because he didn’t like the reasonable assistance offered by the airport, he went running to the media claiming disability discrimination, human rights, etc.

The airport has done nothing wrong here and while it is extremely unfortunate that this chap no longer has the use of

his legs there is surely a limit as to what he can expect others to do to offer assistance.

J ROUGH, Sunderland