Boy in wheelchair had to 'bum shuffle' onto plane

The world wheelchair motocross champion said the ordeal was 'degrading'

A 15-year-old boy, forced to shuffle up stairs onto an aeroplane, has said the ordeal was "frustrating" and "degrading".

Tomas Woods, a wheelchair motocross world champion from Preston, said he had to "bum shuffle" onboard the £1,500 British Airways flight from Dallas to the UK after a jet bridge broke.

He later had to ask his parents to pick him up from Manchester Airport after discovering his £5,000 wheelchair and spare had been lost.

British Airways said it was "urgently" looking into what happened to Tomas, adding it was "very clear from our initial investigation that we got this wrong".

Tomas Woods had been training in the US with his coach

The teenager said the experience had left him "anxious about flying again".

Tomas, who is the current wheelchair motocross world champion, had been travelling home to Preston after training in California.

'Very frustrated'

The 15-year-old said he had to "bum shuffle" aboard the British Airways plane at Dallas airport in April last month due to a faulty jet bridge.

“It was pre-board so there was only us and the cabin crew, but it wasn’t brilliant, and obviously it’s a bit degrading, I suppose.

“After you spent £1,500 on a flight, the last thing you want to do is try to climb up a set of stairs, I was very frustrated.”

Tomas has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome which makes his connective tissue weaker and results in issues like chronic pain, joint dislocation, muscle weakness.

On arrival at Heathrow he was told his specialist wheelchair and his spare had been lost, and was then forced to wait in the plane for two hours.

He was given an airport wheelchair for his connecting flight to Manchester, where he had planned to get the train home.

But he had to ask his parents for a lift as he could not take the airport wheelchair with him.

Once home, Tomas called British Airways to explain he needed his specialist wheelchair back as he had a competition at the weekend.

“After multiple calls I told them I’ll go to the press if I don’t hear any more, and in 20 minutes, it was like the chairs were found as if by magic.

"They said they had been found and were on their way to me, it turned out they were put on the flight before mine to Manchester."

A British Airways spokesperson said the airline was sorry for the "unacceptable experience" and did not "underestimate the impact it will have had on him".