Friday 17 June 2022 07:10 PM 'Terrified' widow, 92, with mobility issues blasts 'shocking' chaos at Gatwick ... trends now
A frail, 92-year-old widow has condemned the chaos at Gatwick Airport after she says she was locked into a side room and felt abandoned by special assistance staff sent to collect her from a plane.
Jean Curran says she was left hammering on a window in tears and shouting for help after being left marooned.
Eventually the 'terrified' grandmother, who has mobility problems and walks with a stick, climbed out of her wheelchair and crawled halfway up a flight of stairs in a desperate bid to attract attention.
She says she was left in 'shaken, shocked and in tears' and described her ordeal as 'the worst moment of my whole life.'
Last night her family were demanding answers from Gatwick Airport for their 'catastrophic failures.'
Jean Curran says she was left hammering on a window in tears and shouting for help after being left marooned
Mrs Curran, of Forest Row, East Sussex had travelled to Madrid with her family for her grandson's wedding.
The family was returning into Gatwick on a Boeing 737-800 Air Europa plane, Flight UX1015, landing at 16.25 on Tuesday [June 14].
Her family disembarked as she waited for the special assistance staff to arrive with a wheelchair.
Mrs Curran was then taken out of the aircraft and pushed down the passenger airbridge and into a long narrow room with glass doors at either end which could only be entered with a security pass.
Mrs Curran said: 'The man said: 'I'm going to leave you here for a moment but someone will be along shortly to collect you.' He then went off and I was left waiting on my own.
'As the minutes ticked by I started to become really worried they might have forgotten about me. You couldn't hear a sound in there, not a word or a footstep. I didn't even know where I was and it was just deathly silent'
She said: 'It was absolutely terrifying because I was just locked inside this corridor with nowhere to go.
'I was very worried because I couldn't hear a sound. It was completely silent. I could see baggage handlers below so I started hammering on the window and shouting for help to get their attention but they didn't see me.
After her family disembarked from the plane, Mrs Curran she waited for the special assistance staff to arrive with a wheelchair (Pictured: Gatwick Airport)
'There was an emergency phone so I tried that and someone answered and assured me someone would be along to collect me but then they just didn't turn up. So I tried it again but the seon time no-one picked up.'
After the phone wasn't answered she began hammering on the window to try and attract the attention of baggage handlers below but they didn't seem to notice.
Eventually Mrs Curran spotted a flight of stairs to one side of the corridor leading up so she climbed out of the wheelchair and started trying to crawl up them in the hope of getting out.
She said: 'All the while
