British airline says wheelchair-using Paralympian can't fly unless he can climb stairs into plane

From The Herald-Sun in Australia:

A wheelchair-bound athlete was left stranded when a British airline refused to let him on a plane because he could not walk up the steps to board.

Richie Powell, 39, who competed at the Paralympics, was "angry and embarrassed" at the snub.

He was booked on an Eastern Airways flight from Bristol, southern England, to Aberdeen, Scotland, for a 10-kilometer wheelchair race - but was told by an employee: "You can only fly if you walk up the steps."

Powell, who broke his back in a motorcycle accident aged 18, said: "I have been flying all over the world to take part in wheelchair races. This has never happened before."

The Welsh sportsman even offered to pull himself up the steps with his arms, but the airline refused to allow it on safety grounds.

"It's discrimination. They knew I was in a wheelchair. I'd told them," he said.

Eastern Airways said the booking indicated Powell was able to climb the stairs unaided.

He later flew to Edinburgh with easyJet and was driven to the event in Balmoral, nearly three hours away.