Premier Inn apologises after Paralympian left stuck in hotel lobby for hours because of broken lift

Ellie Challis, world-record holding Paralympic swimmer, was forced to drive 200-miles home after ordeal at hotel in Romford, East London

Ellie Challis is a Paralympic swimmer who holds one world record and multiple British bests (Martin Rickett/PA Wire)

A gold medal-winning Paralympic swimmer was forced to wait for hours in the lobby of a Premier Inn hotel because a broken lift meant she was unable to access her room.

Ellie Challis, 19, and her father Paul arrived at the hotel in Romford after a 200-mile journey from Manchester on 2 December, only to find the lift was out of order.

The Paralympian was unable to access her first-floor room and was left waiting in the lobby for two hours while the hotel tried to make other arrangements.

After no other accommodation could be found, the pair said they had no other option but to travel hundreds of miles back home in the middle of the night.

Premier Inn has apologised to Ms Challis and offered her a refund and a complimentary stay, but Ms Challis said the compensation was not enough.

Ms Challis, who had booked a standard room because she often finds the wet rooms in accessible suites uncomfortable, told the BBC: “If I was on my own, I would have been left at 19 to find myself with somewhere to stay at 1am.”

“It is just irritating. Most of the time I get a ‘sorry’ that is not really ‘sorry’, and it is the same next time.”

Her father said: “There is no point in saying sorry if you’re not going to do something about it in the future.

“All my fight is to try and get these things cured for the future - not just for Ellie, for anybody, and at the moment these things are going to happen again.”

Earlier this year, the 19-year-old criticised rail operator Avanti West Coast after she was told she could not board a train because there were people standing in the wheelchair spaces.

The world record-holding Paralympian became Great Britain’s youngest medallist at Tokyo 2020 when she won Silver in the Women’s S3 50m Backstroke on her Games debut.

She was 16 months old when she contracted meningitis resulting in the amputation of her four limbs.

Premier Inn said in a statement: “We’re really sorry for the issues Ellie and her dad encountered at Premier Inn Romford and that they were unable to stay as planned.

“Due to circumstances outside our control, between their checking in and returning to the hotel, the lift broke down and despite the best efforts of an engineer, who was called in to rectify the problem, a same-night solution was regrettably not possible.

“When a guest books an accessible room, this automatically triggers a pre-stay call to make sure the room booked is the most suitable for them.

“However, we understand some people with accessibility issues on occasion do prefer to book our standard rooms. Where this is the case we have an accessible email helpline, which again helps ensure the room allocated is the best fit for individual needs as far possible.

“In this instance for example, we would have prioritised this booking as a ground floor room so that in rare event an issue with the lift did arise, access would not have caused a problem. We do hope to welcome Ellie and her dad back soon - we're refunding the cost of the room and offering a complimentary stay as a goodwill gesture.”

In response, the Paralympian told the BBC it should not be her responsibility to contact the email helpline, and bookings should be simplified so wheelchair users can book a ground-floor room.