BBC’s Frank Gardner left on empty plane as Heathrow have ‘no staff to remove wheelchair’

The journalist later said: “Now off plane and in the terminal while I’m guessing all other passengers are on their way home.

“Thanks all of you for your kind words. This is an incredibly minor whinge compared to the horrors people have endured in Ukraine. But it’s the principle of disabled people so often getting crap treatment that’s so objectionable.”

Mr Gardner has previously spoken out after being stuck on a plane at Heathrow twice in six months in 2018, with one incident because staff locked themselves in a lift which was supposed to help him to the ground.

He said at the time: “It’s not deliberate. But unless people like me make a fuss about it, it’s not going to be addressed.”

In March 2018, the journalist was left on a plane at Heathrow for nearly two hours after staff said they had lost his wheelchair.

After the incident in August 2018, a Heathrow spokesperson said the airport had “apologised to Mr Gardner for the technical fault”, and accepted it “fell short of our standards”.

Heathrow Airport has been contacted for comment.