[nagdu] Blind man Dr Tom Pey may sue Eurostar after being left on train in Brussels

[Ginger Kutsch]

Blind man Dr Tom Pey may sue Eurostar after being left on train
in Brussels
 
LEFT ALONE: Tom Pey, pictured here with his guide dogBy emma
curry reporters at sevenoaks-chronicle.co.uk
http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Blind-man-train-ordeal/article-3
231003-detail/article.html
 
A BLIND man is threatening to sue Eurostar after he was abandoned
on a train in Brussels.
 
Dr Tom Pey, chief executive of the Royal London Society for the
Blind (RSLB) and Dorton House in Seal, has accused the travel
firm of disability discrimination.
 
He was travelling to the European Parliament to press for
improved rights for guide dog owners at a meeting of the European
Guide Dog Federation, of which he is president, on Wednesday,
February 2.
 
He had left his guide dog in Seal, worried that Belgian taxi
drivers may not want to take him, and was taken to the station by
his secretary Alison Nield.
 
Unable to get through the barriers, she asked a Eurostar employee
to help Dr Pey on to the train and the train conductor to guide
Mr Pey off the train in Brussels.
 
But when they arrived, Mr Pey was left alone. He waited for half
an hour before struggling out of the station himself.
 
Dr Pey said: "It's really difficult to make your way around in a
foreign country at the best of times, quite apart from being
visually impaired.
 
"I was also at a real loss without my guide dog.
 
"I eventually managed to stumble off the train and remembered
that the taxi rank was near a pizza restaurant. Only problem is
there are two pizza eateries at Brussels station. It was most
distressing."
 
Ms Nield said: "I usually travel with him. Tom's quite brilliant
but this situation was unacceptable.
 
"It was luck rather than judgement that got him off that train.
 
"At this end, Eurostar knew perfectly well he needed assistance.
It's ridiculous."
 
Tim Arnold, communications manager of the RLSB, said: "Eurostar
are re-defining the word 'shameful'. They have a clear
responsibility under the Equalities Act to make a reasonable
adjustment for disabled people.
 
"Tom's lawyers say he has a good case for disability
discrimination."
 
A Eurostar spokesman said: "This was obviously a distressing
experience for Dr Pey and we have called him to apologise
unreservedly.
 
"Situations like these are thankfully rare, but are taken
extremely seriously and therefore, together with our SNCB
colleagues at Brussels Midi, we are investigating why this
happened as a matter of urgency."