Paralysed woman holiday hell after Jet2 error

Rachel Donger's recent Jet2 holiday was ruined as the room she was promised was not accessible

Rachel Donger, 34, said she lost her independence during her holiday with Jet2 after her promised fully accessible room was not delivered.

The holiday company then added insult to injury by only offering her a measly 20 per cent refund.

Rachel had been all set for a relaxing week away on the Greek island of Rhodes with fiancé Phil Hurt, 42, and her sister and her partner Sophie Kerr and Benjy Bakewell – but said she found she was unable to do basic tasks by herself.

Rachel is pictured with her sister Sophie.

She said: “I lost my independence that week.

“My partner had just left a job where he worked for 23 years and had a month off and as he is a farmer we don’t usually get to go on holiday in the summer and usually go in November.

As they were both free they decided to join her sister Sophie Kerr and her partner on a holiday they had already booked with Jet2.

Rachel said: “We decided to stay in the same hotel.

“I called up to book the holiday and explained what adoptions I needed and whether the hotel could meet them. I was told it was an accessible room and booked the holiday.

“I got a call from their special assistants who told me I had got an adapted room but I had to pay around £25 extra, which I paid.”

But when they arrived at the resort they discovered there were no rooms at all to cater for the needs of disabled people.

“We got to the hotel quite late and the room had no grab rails or an adapted shower and the room wasn’t massive so I couldn’t turn in the chair,” Rachel said.

“So we went downstairs and asked for a shower chair as we found out there were no disabled rooms in the hotel.

“They delivered it to the room while we were at breakfast and all we could do was laugh when we saw it. They had put a cheap plastic stool in the shower.

“When I wanted a shower my fiancé had to put me on the floor so I could shuffle around on my bum. Using the shower head I had to keep putting it on the floor to wash my hair, which I had to be careful with because I can’t feel most of my legs.

“If the water had run hot I wouldn’t have felt it as from the waist down I am 95 per cent paralysed.

“I can bend my knees a bit but I can’t stand.”

Before we contacted Jet2 Rachel had only been offered a 20 per cent refund on her accommodation, she said. But the couple have now been offered a full refund.

Rachel added: “It was a bit of an insult to be honest. I felt like they were trying to keep me quiet.”

A spokeswoman from Jet2 said: “We completely sympathise with Rachel’s situation which is why we have offered to refund the full cost of her accommodation. We have also apologised to Rachel for the inconvenience and upset caused by this isolated occurrence.”