Alton Towers amputee ‘told “Start walking” by Virgin Trains staff after being refused disability help’

A woman who lost her right leg when The Smiler rollercoaster crashed at Alton Towers last year was allegedly told to ‘start walking’ by train staff after they refused her disability help.


Vicky Balch, 20, was badly injured when the rollercoaster collided with an empty carriage at the theme park. She later had to have her leg amputated.
Vicky took to Twitter today to say that she had not been given any assistance from staff at Euston station despite booking help in advance.
‘Booked assistance yday [sic] was refused help after waiting 20 minutes, happens every time i go to Euston station,’ she wrote.

‘Another 20 min wait for help, 2 have refused, 1 told me to “start walking” no seats to sit and wait either!’
Vicky told MirrorOnline that she was ‘incensed’ when she was told to ‘start walking’.
 

‘I can walk a certain distance but if I do that I can’t do anything else for the rest of the day,’ she said. ‘If it happens to me, it’s probably happening to lots of other disabled people as well.’
Network Rail apologised for the incident.

Virgin Trains has apologised (Picture: REX Shutterstock)

Martin Frobisher, the route managing director, said: ‘We apologise for not providing the level of service that she and other disabled passengers rightly expect and deserve.’
 

A Virgin Trains spokesperson said the experience was ‘completely unacceptable. ‘We’re really sorry,’ they said.
‘We are investigating what went wrong.’

Source: Metro.co.uk