A disabled war hero was refused access to a Virgin train and frog marched off the platform at Euston Station after he was unable to board the train without his railcard.
Andy Grant, a former Royal Marine, was attempting to board a train to Liverpool Lime Street yesterday morning when he discovered he left his wallet in a cafe.
But even though the 28-year-old had purchased his ticket using his Trainline app on his phone, staff didn’t let him board the train without his disabled railcard.
Andy Grant, a former Royal Marine, was refused access to a Virgin train after losing his railcard yesterday
Writing on Twitter, Mr Grant, who has a prosthetic leg, claims: ‘When I activated the ticket to board the train they asked to see my railcard. I realised it must be in the cafe so I ran back to the cafe to look for it. It wasn’t there.
‘I ran back and explained that I had lost my wallet. The Virgin staff said “Tough, you need to go but another ticket.”
‘I explained that would be impossible as I don’t have my wallet now. She then said, “How do we know you are disabled and have a rail card?”
‘I replied because I got blown up in Afghanistan and lifted my trouser leg up. At this point I was In disbelief at the lack of common sense.’
He later tweeted that he bumped into a friend at Euston who purchased a ticket for him
He said when he attempted to speak to the train manager he was escorted away by a Police Officer for British Transport Police.
Footage shows him being led off the platform by a police officer.
However, Mr Grant was able to board another train after bumping into his friend at the station who purchased a ticket for him.
He finished his chain of tweets by urging Virgin founder Richard Branson to ‘lower the ticket prices’.
After chronicling the incident on Twitter, Mr Grant was flooded with messages of support from the public.
Mr Grant holds the record for being the world’s fastest single leg amputee
He wrote on Twitter: ‘Massive thanks for the the messages of people offering to pay for my ticket. All appreciated, thank you. Finally some decent people.’
Mr Grant holds the record for being the world’s fastest single leg amputee.
He was injured in an explosion in an IED (improvised explosive device) explosion in Afghanistan eight years ago had his right leg amputated in November 2010.
Since then, he has learned to ski, surf and skydive and won two gold medals and a bronze at the Invictus Games in London three years ago.
A spokesman for Virgin Trains said: ‘We’re sorry to hear about Andy’s experience and we’ve asked him to get in touch with us so we can look into what happened.’
A spokesman for the British Transport Police said: ‘We are aware of a video circulated on Twitter of an officer at Euston station escorting a man from a platform. This incident occurred this afternoon (September 7).
‘Officers are currently making enquiries into the circumstances which led to the man being escorted from the platform. We have contacted the man and are looking forward to speaking with him to understand exactly what happened.’