Man in wheelchair ordered off flight

LONDON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- A partially paralyzed man who uses a wheelchair says he was ordered off a budget flight from Britain to France because he couldn't walk to the emergency exit.

The Mirror reported Martin Sabry, a 39-year-old businessman from Cambridge, England, who is paralyzed from the chest down, said he was first told by staff at Gatwick Airport in London he could take the flight.

But the captain reversed the decision, and he was told all passengers flying alone had to be able to reach the exit.

Sabry said he often flies for work and never had a problem.

"It was so demeaning and unbelievable the way they treated me and the purser was obnoxiously rude," Gatwick told the Mirror Monday.

After he waited 4 hours, EasyJet staff apologized, put him on the next flight from Gatwick to Toulouse and paid for his taxi transfer.