Wheelchair User Left in Tears After Being Forced to Crawl Off Great Western Railway Train

A 24-year-old wheelchair user has described the humiliation of being forced to crawl on her hands and knees through multiple train carriages after Great Western Railway failed to provide the assistance she had been promised.

Phoebe Tesoriere, who lived in Caerphilly at the time, was travelling on a GWR service from London Paddington to Bath Spa in December 2025 when the incident occurred. What should have been a straightforward journey home following a concert turned into a traumatic ordeal that has left her family reluctant to use public transport ever again.

Phoebe, a former Cardiff University student, has hereditary spastic paraplegia, a genetic condition that causes progressive weakness and stiffness in the leg muscles. The NHS describes the condition as one that primarily affects the lower limbs, making mobility increasingly difficult over time. For Phoebe, her wheelchair is not a convenience but an essential means of navigating the world independently.

Prior to boarding the train, Phoebe's family had taken the precaution of speaking directly with the assistance desk. They were directed to the only designated wheelchair space on the service. According to Phoebe, staff assured her mother explicitly that a ramp and assistance would be waiting for them upon arrival at Bath Spa. Throughout the journey, staff checked multiple times which station she would be disembarking at. Despite these repeated confirmations, no one informed her that the carriage she had been placed in would stop beyond the platform edge, rendering a ramp unusable.

When the train arrived at Bath Spa, Phoebe and her parents were instead instructed to remain on board and travel a further 15 to 20 minutes to Bristol Temple Meads, where they would need to purchase additional tickets back to Bath Spa in order to exit the train safely. The family explained this was not a viable option. Phoebe's grandparents were waiting at Bath Spa station to collect them and drive her back to Caerphilly. The delay and added expense would have left them stranded.

Faced with no feasible alternative, Phoebe attempted to manoeuvre her wheelchair through the train aisle. When it became clear the chair would not fit, she was left with no choice but to lower herself to the floor and crawl. She made her way through three carriages on her hands and knees, crying as she went.

"I was crying. People were staring," Phoebe recounted. The distress of the moment was compounded by the reaction of strangers. One passenger reached down to stroke her back and apologise, telling her that what was happening was not acceptable. While the gesture was intended as comfort, Phoebe said it left her feeling dehumanised. "She was trying to comfort me, but in that moment I felt like a dog," she said.

Phoebe's mother, Kirstin Tesoriere, watched the scene unfold and described it as traumatic and deeply upsetting. "When I close my eyes I can still see it, the pity on other passengers' faces. It was humiliating for her," Kirstin said. The sense of helplessness was overwhelming for a parent who could do nothing to prevent her daughter's suffering. Once Phoebe reached the end of the carriage, her parents physically lifted her back into her wheelchair so she could exit the train using a ramp. No GWR staff were present to assist with this transfer.

The incident occurred on what was meant to be a celebratory trip. Phoebe had taken her parents to London as a Christmas gift and had bought concert tickets for her mother and father before her diagnosis. The journey home was supposed to be a simple conclusion to a pleasant outing. Instead, it became a defining moment of humiliation that has had lasting consequences for the family's confidence in public transport.

Great Western Railway has since issued an apology, stating it was "really sorry" and admitting, "we let her down, both when we helped her board and at several points during her journey." The company acknowledged that Phoebe's experience was "extremely poor" and took accountability for the failures that occurred. GWR confirmed that Phoebe would receive compensation for the incident.

However, Phoebe says that nearly nine months after lodging her formal complaint, she is still fighting for resolution. She submitted her complaint on the day of the incident, but the investigation was not completed until May. Despite providing her bank details as requested, she has not received any compensation. Since June, she claims the company has "ignored every email I have sent."

"Nearly nine months after I complained, I am still fighting to get an answer," Phoebe said. "No disabled passenger should ever have to crawl." Her mother Kirstin expressed a similar sentiment, saying that while she understands mistakes can happen, the subsequent treatment of her daughter has been inexcusable. "I can't forgive them for how they've made an awful traumatic experience last for months," she added.

The ordeal has had a profound impact on the family's daily life. Due to the progressive nature of Phoebe's condition, her mobility is expected to decline further over time. Kirstin said she had wanted to "make lovely memories" with her daughter, but the family has not used public transport since the incident. "She's just scared now and she's already lost so much to her diagnosis," Kirstin said. "You just want your children to be happy."

Phoebe is now calling for significant improvements to accessible transport across the UK. She believes that disabled passengers continue to face unacceptable barriers that many in society remain unaware of. "It's ridiculous that disabled passengers are still expected to go through this," she said. She added that while there is a common perception that "everything is accessible these days, but it really isn't."

The incident raises broader questions about the reliability of passenger assistance schemes on Britain's rail network. While train operators are required to provide assistance to disabled passengers under regulations, failures such as the one experienced by Phoebe suggest significant gaps remain in implementation. For wheelchair users and others with mobility impairments, the consequences of these failures are not merely inconvenient but can be physically dangerous and emotionally damaging.

Phoebe's case highlights the importance of robust accountability mechanisms when accessibility commitments are breached. While GWR has admitted fault, the prolonged delay in providing compensation has compounded the original harm. For Phoebe and her family, the physical and emotional scars of that December journey remain fresh, and their faith in a system meant to support them has been severely shaken.