TWO disabled cousins were forced to crawl up four flights of stairs on “their hands and knees” at a Travelodge due to a broken lift.
Angela Coulton, 56, and Nicola Honey, 53, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, booked a dream three-night stay for the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo from August 9.
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But the pair were left “dehumanised, embarrassed and ashamed” when the single lift to their accessible room in the capital’s Rose Street hotel was broken for two out of the three days of their special trip.
They told how the elevator was initially functional when they arrived, but it broke down on the second night, leaving the women, both with mobility issues, trapped in their room.
A fire alarm test even took place, which they were not informed about, that forced them to evacuate their room without warning.
Angela told the Scottish Sun how the pair were made to shuffle up and down four flights of stairs without any help or support from the hotel’s absent management.
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She said: “We had no idea what was going on.
It was the embarrassment of it all that was the worst part… It was completely humiliating
Angela Coulton
“We even asked a cleaner and she had to call down to the desk to find out.”
Angela, who was forced to retire from her job as a healthcare support worker after contracting Covid in 2020, and Nicola, who walks with crutches due to dystonia, were then left to bump down the stairs on their backsides to get out.
She continued: “It was the embarrassment of it all that was the worst part.
“People were walking around us as we shuffled down. It was completely humiliating.
“We had to crawl back up the flights of stairs to return to our room after we were told it was a test.”
The lift was later fixed for several hours to allow them to leave before being out of order again at night.
The pair had to resort to crawling back to their room where they were trapped there until noon on Friday when someone finally came to assist them.
Their attempts to complain with Travelodge were met with generic email responses that told them to call a 13p per minute customer line.
Our holiday was ruined and this is no way to treat people with a disability. The hotel is not accessible in the slightest
Angela Coulton
Angela added: “Our holiday was ruined and this is no way to treat people with a disability. The hotel is not accessible in the slightest.”
Despite the ordeal, Angela said her first visit to Scotland was still overall positive and vowed to return on better terms.
She added: “The trip itself was lovely. People in Scotland couldn’t do enough for us. They were brilliant. It was just the hotel.”
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Travelodge admitted they fell short of the mark when approached by the Scottish Sun and later issued a full refund of £650 and a £150 voucher for the cousins to book another trip.
A spokesperson added: “We sincerely apologise to Ms Coulton and Ms Honey for their recent experience, where we fell short of our usual high standards of customer care.”
This post was originally published on here
