A DISABLED BBC journalist has expressed outrage after he was left stranded on a plane at an airport.

Frank Gardner, a wheelchair user, was left on an aircraft after landing at Gatwick Airport on an Iberia Express flight on Thursday night.

Frank was left partially paralysed after being shot by al-Qaeda  gunmen in Saudi Arabia in 2004.

The incident comes after a passenger with restricted mobility died at the Sussex airport on June 15.

The man fell while going up an escalator after leaving an aircraft without a helper.

Frank, who has been left stranded on planes several times in recent years, shared an image  from inside the aircraft with no other passengers in sight on Twitter.

He wrote: “FFS not again! Just back from exhausting week covering Nato summit in Madrid and quelle surprise, I’m still stuck on the plane at Gatwick.

“Iberia crew are gone, and a new crew has come onboard.

“Just WHY are UK airports so consistently c*** at getting disabled people off planes?”

He added: “It never happens abroad, only in UK.”

Once he was able to leave the aircraft, Mr Gardner wrote: “Off the plane now – only a 20-minute delay which is mild – but ground handlers said, ‘nobody told us there was a disabled passenger onboard’.

“Airline, Iberia, insist they did. All in all, so tedious and boring.”

A Gatwick spokeswoman said: “We apologise for the delay Mr Gardner experienced on this occasion.

“We have been working closely with our assistance provider, Wilson James, to establish the reasons for this.

“At this stage, it appears there was no special assistance booking from the airline for Mr Gardner.

“However, as soon as we were made aware, the team responded, and Mr Gardner received assistance within 20 minutes.

“We strive to provide the best possible service to all passengers so will continue to look into this with Wilson James and the airline concerned.

“We apologise again for any delay Mr Gardner experienced returning from the Nato summit in Madrid.”