Woman who arrived at airport early watches plane take off without her as Ryanair slams 'abysmal' incident

A paraplegic woman was forced to watch her plane take off without her after staff told her it was 'too late' to get her on board.

Joanne Vasey, 38, was told to arrive at a special assistance point she had pre-booked at 5.20am ahead of her 6am flight to Dublin from Liverpool Airport on Friday, August 4. A wheelchair-user, she had booked the service in advance as she needed help getting onto the plane, and arrived at the desk five minutes early ready for the day trip, which she had booked for her nephew's 20th birthday.

But despite making her presence known to staff, she was kept waiting inside the terminal until just minutes before the plane was due to set off - before being told it was 'too late' for her to board. Ryanair called the service she was offered 'abysmal'.

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She told the Liverpool Echo: "We were told to go to the gate and someone would be there to help me on. We waited, and the lady came over and said the assistant would be with us soon. We stayed there, and we could see them boarding people on through the gate.

"We were still inside the terminal on the other side of the gate. The assistant came then and she said don't worry, the plane will wait for you, they can't go without you. She said she was the only one working and she had to board people on the plane and had been running around everywhere.

"She took us down to another door to go onto the runway to board the plane, and we were waiting for the ambulift. We could see the lift going to the plane. (The assistant) was on a radio and the next minute she said they're not letting you on the plane.

"When we spoke to somebody else on the desk they said because the