GWR "humiliates" comedian

Guard shames woman with mobility scooter for using disabled space

A comedian returning home from a Devon gig says she was "humiliated" by train company GWR because she declined to move her mobility scooter from a space reserved for people with disabilities.

Taynalee Davis says a guard made a public announcement accusing her of causing problems that had delayed the train.  Ms Davies, 47, has a form of dwarfism and relies on a mobility scooter to get around more easily. She was travelling on a service between Devon and London on Sunday when another passenger asked to use the space for a pram. The guard (a job GWR now calls a train manager) sided with the other passenger (which GWR now refers to as a customer), using the public address system to tell other passengers "the woman with the mobility scooter" was leading to the train being delayed indefinitely.

Ms Davis' partner filmed the scandal on his mobile phone, leaving GWR with little wriggle room. After being publicly shamed, the comedian says she cried all the way home.

GWR, a company with form in humiliating passengers, says: "No one travelling with us should be left feeling like this. This should not have happened and we have been in touch with Taynalee to apologise directly. She has asked to speak with a senior member of our team to talk about her experience - and how we might have avoid it happening again - and we have said we would be very happy to arrange this as soon as possible."