She had been assured that someone would come to get her if the alarm went off but she says no one came
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A woman with a disability has claimed that she was at risk of being left to die after a fire alarm went off late at night at a Premier Inn. Dr Hannah Barham-Brown, who uses a wheelchair, was staying at the Premier Inn County Hall hotel, near Waterloo station, when the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday (March 23). She had been in London to attend a Motability event at the House of Lords.
Dr Barham-Brown said she had been assured that someone would come to get her if the alarm went off. However, she claimed that nobody showed up, and she had no way of contacting the front desk. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: "I was woken at 1.15 am by a fire alarm. I’d been told earlier in the day that if there was a fire alarm to stay put and someone would come to me – but they didn’t."
She said that there was no phone in her room to contact the front desk, only an emergency button. Although her room had evacuation instructions, they were for non-disabled people and did not address what to do as a wheel-chair user. She realised after 15 minutes that nobody was coming to help her evacuate.
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She said: “I could hear everyone else evacuating so I got in my chair and rolled to the top of the staircase because I know from previous training, that's the safest place to be.” Her colleagues, who were also staying at the hotel, found her and helped her get down the four flights of stairs to the basement exit.
Her colleagues also retrieved her wheelchair from the upper floor and helped her back up the 15 steps at the entrance.She claims she was told by staff that although roles were handed out ahead of the drill, no-one had been allocated to collect her.
She added: "There was never any indication from them that it wasn’t an emergency situation. If I had followed their advice and it had been a real fire, I would’ve been left to die."
She says she doesn’t know when she’ll feel safe to independently travel again, claiming “it makes me incredibly scared and angry because I shouldn't be placing my life in the hands of people who demonstrate so clearly they do not care". Premier Inn was contacted for comment but has not yet responded.
A Premier Inn spokesperson told the Mirror: "Premier Inn London County Hall forms part of the wider County Hall Complex which has Listed status, and this places constraints on the way we can operate this hotel. For example, previous schemes to enhance access for mobility-impaired guests, including the proposed installation of ramps at the front of the building have been unsuccessful because of this.
"For this reason, our booking process clearly explains that our team members will need to help guests who use wheelchairs in and out of the building, and we apologise for the inconvenience this understandably may cause. We are sorry Dr Barham-Brown was frustrated with many aspects of her stay at this hotel, including finding the security gates – which are managed by the landlord – shut.
"Premier Inn do not operate these gates nor have keys to them, but our team were of course pleased to assist in contacting the third-party security team to allow access – we will be picking this up with the landlord. We have robust fire evacuation procedures and are confident these were followed correctly on the occasion of this false alarm – a team member was dispatched to assist Dr Barnham-Brown within minutes of it sounding but found she had already chosen to leave. We have already reached out to the guest and welcome the opportunity to speak about any aspect of her experience directly."
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