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A man from North East Somerset says he was “humiliated” and “ridiculed” at Bristol Airport recently after his restricted mobility left him unable to respond to a security officer’s requests quickly.
The passenger, who was due to fly to Ibiza on holiday with his wife, said that while going through security on April 12, he was asked by a security officer to remove his shoes.
He said: “I have psoriatic arthritis, so I have some issues with mobility. I also had a haematoma last year, so I’m a bit slow in terms of sometimes responding to things. It’s part of the brain injury.”
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He claimed that the security officer became argumentative, berating him before dismissing him and telling him not to bother removing his shoes after all.
He said: “This overzealous security guard screamed at me, and as I started to take my shoes off, I was then sarcastically told, “It is too late.
“My wife was upset because she witnessed it; he was literally shouting and screaming. I felt I felt completely ridiculed by him. And I told him: ‘I’ve got some issues here with mobility.’ And he just dismissed it.
“It was just one of those really unpleasant experiences where I thought to myself, ‘I understand that you have a job, and I will cooperate,’ but they just barked at me, even though they saw me struggle.”
The man’s wife is registered disabled and used a wheelchair to board the plane. He described the staff at Bristol Airport who liaise with disabled passengers as “excellent”. But he added: “The attitude is that if you have a visible disability, you’re treated in a proper manner. But if you’ve got invisible disabilities, then you’re just treated like a moron.”
He said: “I don’t feel comfortable having some identifier on me saying that I’ve got a hidden disability. For me, I think I should be treated the same as anyone else. And that’s with dignity.
“I don’t think that [the officer] had any understanding whatsoever about hidden disabilities or any training on it. He was running roughshod over everybody and being really obnoxious. And there’s just no need for it.
The man said he has filed a formal complaint with the airport but had not received any response. He said: “I don’t think Bristol Airport are taking my complaint terribly seriously; there’s not a lot of urgency to get back to me.”
Bristol Live has contacted Bristol Airport for comment.
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