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Pictured: Mr Thompson was given an orange sticker indicating his need to use the lift. (James Thompson)<\/p>\nQuestions over an incident in which a wheelchair user was unable to access a lift onboard a DFDS vessel \u2013 and subsequently had to stay on the car deck in his van for the entirely of the crossing to the UK \u2013 were raised in the States Assembly this morning.<\/p>\n
The matter was highlighted by Express\u2018s sister publication, the Jersey Evening Post, after James Thompson \u2013 a member of equality and diversity charity Liberate\u2019s governing board \u2013 raised concerns following his recent journey from Jersey to Poole.<\/p>\n
Mr Thompson, who is paralysed from the shoulders down, said he had notified DFDS in advance of his sailing regarding his need to use the lift from the car deck to the passenger deck.<\/p>\n
Pictured: Mr Thompson was given an orange sticker indicating his need to use the lift. (James Thompson)<\/p>\n
He also noted that, when checking in, he was given an orange sticker marked \u201dlift\u2019 to hang in his van.<\/p>\n
But Mr Thompson said he was informed while boarding that the lift was already \u201cclosed up and blocked off\u201d and that he \u201cshould have been in a different loading area to get on earlier\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the start of today\u2019s States sitting, Deputy Montfort Tadier asked Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel if he had been made aware of the \u201charrowing case\u201d and whether he would conduct an investigation to understand what took place and \u201cmake sure it does not reoccur\u201d.<\/p>\n
Deputy Morel responded: \u201cI\u2019m grateful to the Deputy for raising this important issue. This incident was clearly unacceptable and my officers raised it directly with DFDS as a matter of urgency on Monday 8 September.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy their express admission, this incident falls a long way short of DFDS\u2019s own standards and those expected of them by the vessel flag state.<\/p>\n
\u201cDFDS has reached out to the passenger concerned and is reviewing the incident to find out why its usual procedures were not followed in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy Morel continued: \u201cFurthermore, they have proactively reported this matter to the vessel flag state, given the deeply unsatisfactory passenger experience and unorthodox crossing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are also shortly meeting with the government\u2019s disability and inclusion team to ensure that all passengers have access to the reliable and dignified experience that they rightly expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Pictured: Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel addressed questions about the incident.<\/p>\n
The Minister also read a message from DFDS that described the incident as a \u201cbad mistake\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Danish ferry operator said: \u201cWe are changing our processes to prevent this happening again. The customer was correctly identified as needing assistance at checking in, but was put in the wrong lane and was missed when we loaded vehicles which needed lift access.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lift was working. It was a failure of process to get the passenger close to it so they could easily get to the passenger decks.\u201d<\/p>\n
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