Disability activist left in tears stranded on a train platform after station staff 'called her rude and repeatedly refused to get a ramp'
Anna Landre, a wheelchair user, was set to travel from London 's Liverpool Street station on May 18.
Arriving 'several minutes before' her train was due to depart, the 25-year-old said that she had enquired with members of staff about a ramp, vital in order for her to be able to board the train.
However, Ms Landre, who lives with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disease, was immediately informed that was deemed to be of 'lower priority' than other passengers who had pre-booked a form of assistance.
Describing the interaction as 'very abled-mansplaining', Ms Landre took to X to outline the stressful ordeal, adding: 'I firmly but politely told him that I know the law and did not need a lecture.
'He continued on and I repeated myself and said I was just looking to the next train since they'd failed to bring the ramp for the original one.'
To Ms Landre's dismay, the member of staff then outright refused to assist her any further, branding her as 'rude'.
Then, after speaking with another, she presumed to be more senior staff member, the American activist was told that, given accusations of her 'rude' nature, she would be denied ramp assistance by 'any' staff member in the station.
Ms Landre, who moved to the UK three years ago after studying in Washington DC, was banned from boarding any trains from Liverpool Street Station and eventually forced to return home.
Firmly denying any allegations of rudeness, Ms Landre added: 'I believe this able bodied man did not enjoy a young disabled woman speaking assertively back to him in the same tone he was using.
'And regardless, 'rudeness' is not the standard for denial of ramp assistance. Abusiveness is, and I was certainly not that.'
Following the harsh conversation, Ms Landre admitted that she was even brought to tears, feeling 'so powerless and victimised' by the unapologetic rail staff.
Having since requested body cam footage of the interaction, she said: 'The fact is, disabled people reacting with anything other than gratefulness and deference for being granted basic human dignity is often perceived as rudeness.
'The power nondisabled people have over our lives to enforce that dynamic is extraordinary.
'No trains for me today.'
Social media users were quick to express their utter outrage at Ms Landre's seeming mistreatment by staff, with one branding it 'absolutely disgraceful', while another described it as a 'despicable power play'.
One commenter, who described the denial of service as 'absolutely appalling', added: 'They work in customer service, they should be trained to deal with 'rude' people (not saying you were) and it is certainly not a reason to deny you assistance. They should have been apologising for not having the ramp there in the first place.'
A Network Rail spokesperson said that Ms Landre's incident was being investigated 'as a matter of urgency'.
They added: 'We want to make our stations as accessible as possible to all of our passengers and we're sorry to hear about the issues one of our passengers experienced at Liverpool Street station today.'
MailOnline has contacted Ms Landre for comment.
Her experience comes less than a year after Lady Tanni Grey-Thompson reported being forced to crawl off a train after rail staff refused to help her.
The gold-medal-winning Paralympian, 55, said she arrived into London King's Cross station at around 10pm in August last year and that there were no workers there to help her.
The wheelchair racing champion, who is now a House of Lords crossbench peer, was on the 7.45pm service and had praised rail staff who kept checking on whether or not she needed food.
The train got into the station just after 10pm, and she posted: 'Hey LNER my train has arrived at KGX and there is no one to get me off.'
And just minutes later: 'Cleaning crew are on board.' And then: 'Cleaning crew are now leaving the train!!!!'
The Baroness continued posting, desperately trying to find out who could help her.
She wrote: 'LNER who do I need to call to get off this train!!! It got to KGX 10 mins ago!!!!!'
At 10.24pm she said she'd had to crawl off the train.
She posted on X: 'Well I've just crawled off.
'At 22.17 (train got in at 22.02) I decided to crawl off. Had to move all my stuff onto the platform. Member of cleaning staff offered to help. They're not insured.'
In response, LNER apologised, with a spokesperson stating: 'We are sorry to understand there has been an issue at London King's Cross station on Monday evening.
'We are in the process of investigating this and are in contact with the customer directly.'
LNER's Managing Director David Horne also replied to Lady Tanni's post, saying: 'My sincere apologies for this Tanni.
'Something has clearly gone wrong here and we've let you down. We'll investigate what went wrong and share the details.'
In August 2024, Ms Landre was also left in tears after she was unable to collect her Freedom of the City of London award on stage as there was no ramp at the ceremony.
Describing the incident as 'absurd', she claimed it was an example of the 'access roulette' disabled people are forced to face in everyday life.
According to the wheelchair user, organisers were aware she would be attending the event and assured her there would be wheelchair access.
But instead the researcher and consultant was made to 'quietly accept my Freedom of the City from the floor beneath the stage'.
A City of London Corporation spokesperson said: 'The City of London Corporation would like to offer our sincerest apologies to Anna Landre for the inaccessible stage upon receiving her Freedom award. The City of London Corporation is fully committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we are undertaking an urgent review to ensure accessibility at our buildings, facilities and events.'
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