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This is the shocking moment a wheelchair user is forced to drag himself along the floor of the plane to use the toilet, leaving him feeling ’embarrassed’.
Spencer Watts was on board a Wizz Air flight from Gatwick to Rome when he asked air cabin crew if they had an aisle chair he could use.
But he was given a ‘pretty straight no’ as the wheelchair hadn’t been fitted yet to the budget airline’s new aircraft.
The female flight attendant tells the sales assistant ‘we don’t have this kind of service’ and says there is nothing she can do ‘from our side, unfortunately’ when he asks if there is any way he can get to the toilet.
Mr Watts, who has a spinal cord injury, is seen in the heartbreaking footage lowering himself onto the floor where he accidentally knocks another person’s arm, before he drags himself past other passengers.
![Spencer Watts was on board a Wizz Air flight from Gatwick to Rome when the whhelchair user was forced to drag himself along the floor of the plane to use the toilet](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/20/87593579-13656559-Mr_Watts_described_the_experience_as_very_very_horrible_with_at_-a-6_1721588793835.jpg)
Spencer Watts was on board a Wizz Air flight from Gatwick to Rome when the whhelchair user was forced to drag himself along the floor of the plane to use the toilet
![Mr Watts says he did receive an apology but was left having to choose between 'being in a lot of pain because you can't go for a wee' or shuffling along the floor](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/20/87595865-13656559-image-a-11_1721590173152.jpg)
Mr Watts says he did receive an apology but was left having to choose between ‘being in a lot of pain because you can’t go for a wee’ or shuffling along the floor
![This angle shows Mr Watts' view as he pulled himself along the aisle floor of the plane](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/20/87595871-13656559-image-a-12_1721590179637.jpg)
This angle shows Mr Watts’ view as he pulled himself along the aisle floor of the plane
![He had 'no option but to ask my fellow passengers on the side to move out of the way and drag myself along the floor and in to the toilet'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/22/87599029-13656559-image-a-15_1721595985096.jpg)
He had ‘no option but to ask my fellow passengers on the side to move out of the way and drag myself along the floor and in to the toilet’
![Mr Watts described the experience as 'very, very horrible' with at one point his arm knocks into another passenger's who is sitting in his chair reading a book](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593583-13656559-image-a-14_1721585167482.jpg)
Mr Watts described the experience as ‘very, very horrible’ with at one point his arm knocks into another passenger’s who is sitting in his chair reading a book
![Mr Watts, who has a spinal cord injury, is seen in the heartbreaking footage lowering himself onto the floor in the aisle and dragging himself past other passengers](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593589-13656559-image-a-15_1721585187321.jpg)
Mr Watts, who has a spinal cord injury, is seen in the heartbreaking footage lowering himself onto the floor in the aisle and dragging himself past other passengers
The shocking footage will be shown in a new Channel 4 documentary to highlight the mistreatment of disabled people on planes.
Mr Watts was one of 17 passengers with mobility issues who agreed to go undercover for paraplegic TV presenter Sophie Morgan’s Fight to Fly, which airs on Monday at 9pm.
He had already been waiting onboard the delayed Wizz Air flight for an hour before it eventually took to the sky.
The plane had been in the air for ‘a little while’ when Mr Watts asks whether there is an aisle chair he can use.
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The flight attendant briefly goes back behind the curtain to ask a colleague before quickly returning to tell him there isn’t one on board.
In the awkward exchange, Mr Watts tells her that ‘realistically you shouldn’t be allowing people that can’t walk on the aeroplane without an aisle chair’.
‘I know but they didn’t fit the wheelchair in this aircraft,’ she replies.
‘What I can do from my side is to report this situation because of course it’s not nice for anybody.’
Mr Watts says he did receive an apology but was left having to choose between ‘being in a lot of pain because you can’t go for a wee’ or shuffling along the floor.
‘I had no option but to ask my fellow passengers on the side to move out of the way and drag myself along the floor and in to the toilet,’ Mr Watts says.
‘It’s just embarrassing, and you feel very small. There are a lot people on this aeroplane that are looking at you like ‘what the hell is going on?’.
‘So that whole experience is very, very horrible.’
Ms Morgan is barely able to watch the footage back as she angrily hit out at the airline for putting Mr Watts in a ‘dangerous’ situation.
‘Not only is he dragging himself along the floor, which is undignified, unfair, unjust, all of these things,’ she says.
![Mr Watts was given a 'pretty straight no' by air cabin crew when he asked if they had an aisle chair he could use](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593585-13656559-image-a-17_1721585204219.jpg)
Mr Watts was given a ‘pretty straight no’ by air cabin crew when he asked if they had an aisle chair he could use
![He had to use all of his upper body strength to haul himself along the floor in order to use the loo](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/20/87595869-13656559-image-a-13_1721590186276.jpg)
He had to use all of his upper body strength to haul himself along the floor in order to use the loo
![He said he was 'just embarrassing, and you feel very small. There are a lot people on this aeroplane that are looking at you like "what the hell is going on?"'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593593-13656559-image-a-18_1721585215421.jpg)
He said he was ‘just embarrassing, and you feel very small. There are a lot people on this aeroplane that are looking at you like ‘what the hell is going on?”
![Sophie Morgan is barely able to watch the footage back as she angrily hit out at the airline for putting Mr Watts in a 'dangerous' situation](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593595-13656559-image-a-20_1721585226583.jpg)
Sophie Morgan is barely able to watch the footage back as she angrily hit out at the airline for putting Mr Watts in a ‘dangerous’ situation
![Mr Watts is helped up onto the toilet after dragging himself along the floor](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593587-13656559-image-a-21_1721585232519.jpg)
Mr Watts is helped up onto the toilet after dragging himself along the floor
![Mr Watts says he did receive an apology but was left having to choose between 'being in a lot of pain because you can't go for a wee' or shuffling along the floor](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593591-13656559-image-a-19_1721585220966.jpg)
Mr Watts says he did receive an apology but was left having to choose between ‘being in a lot of pain because you can’t go for a wee’ or shuffling along the floor
‘What you don’t know is that he has got a spinal injury. He’s putting his body at risk. He’s dragging himself along the floor.
‘The consequences of that could be further injury, which could lead to bed rest, which could lead to pressure sores. It’s not just inhumane, it’s dangerous.’
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A Wizz Air spokesperson said: ‘We were extremely sorry to hear about the experiences of these customers.
‘We understand the importance of wheelchairs for users.… Unfortunately, on this particular flight, there was no aisle wheelchair.
‘We are in the process of having aisle chairs available on all of our aircraft, with 85% of our fleet already having them.’
In another clip, a group of disabled people are seen getting helped on to a Wizz Air plane.
As they sit there waiting for the delayed flight to depart, the pilot appears to blame the hold-up on their wheelchairs being loaded onto the plane.
‘We have some wheelchairs in the front cargo,’ he says in an announcement to all the passengers on board.
‘Now it looks like they’ve figured it out and due to that of course we lost our spot in the sequence and now we request a new one.
![Mr Watts was one of 17 passengers with mobility issues who agreed to go undercover for paraplegic TV presenter Sophie Morgan (pictured) for her Fight to Fly documentary](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/21/19/87593609-13656559-image-a-13_1721585130675.jpg)
Mr Watts was one of 17 passengers with mobility issues who agreed to go undercover for paraplegic TV presenter Sophie Morgan (pictured) for her Fight to Fly documentary
![In another clip, a group of disabled people are seen getting helped on to a Wizz Air plane](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/22/00/87599169-13656559-image-a-30_1721603256765.jpg)
In another clip, a group of disabled people are seen getting helped on to a Wizz Air plane
![As they sit there waiting for the delayed flight to depart, the pilot appears to blame the hold-up on their wheelchairs being loaded onto the plane](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/22/00/87599171-13656559-image-a-31_1721603261114.jpg)
As they sit there waiting for the delayed flight to depart, the pilot appears to blame the hold-up on their wheelchairs being loaded onto the plane
![Ms Morgan is left shocked by the footage and labels the announcement 'cruel'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/22/00/87599165-13656559-image-a-32_1721603266956.jpg)
Ms Morgan is left shocked by the footage and labels the announcement ‘cruel’
‘So sorry again for any inconvenience this may have caused.’
Ms Morgan is left shocked by the footage and labels the announcement ‘cruel’.
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She says: ‘Can you believe how that feels if you are a wheelchair user?
‘That’s so cruel. For disabled people who are flying they are already feeling this system is not built for them. They have had their wheelchairs removed from them and now they are sitting there anxious, uncomfortable, sitting on seats that they can’t move from.
‘And they have just been called out by the captain for disrupting the flight.’
Around half of 500 people surveyed by disability equality charity Scope said they felt discriminated against when flying at least once in the last five years.
A Wizz Air spokesperson said: ‘We were extremely sorry to hear about the experiences of these customers.
‘We understand the importance of wheelchairs for users… Unfortunately, on this particular flight, there was no aisle wheelchair.
‘We are in the process of having aisle chairs available on all of our aircraft, with 85% of our fleet already having them.
‘We apologise for the way the pilot communicated the delay with passengers and recognise there would have been a more appropriate way for customers to have been notified.’
Sophie Morgan’s Fight to Fly is on Channel 4 on Monday July 22 at 9pm