Loose Women's Sophie Morgan suffers another travel nightmare on 'trip of a lifetime'

TV presenter and Loose Women star Sophie Morgan had another travel nightmare as she set off on her 'trip of a lifetime' to the United States to mark twenty years since her car crash

Sophie Morgan has shared her recent travel frustration as she embarked on a trip of a lifetime to the United States of America.

The TV presenter and Loose Women panellist jetted to the States where she rode across the country to mark twenty years since the car crash that left her paralysed from the waist down. She went from Washington DC to Los Angeles on a Spyder bike. However, Sophie was met with "drama" before her adventure could even get underway.

The 38-year-old was held up at Heathrow as she tried to board the plane. Sophie, who started the Rights On Flights campaign after sharing her own travel nightmares, told The Mirror: "It is impossible to fly these days without something going wrong." She shared that a ground handler refused to let her take her Batec - a battery powered wheelchair attachment - on board. Sophie was already hesitant about travelling with the attachment, as it had been broken twice on flights before.

She explained: "They refused to let it travel on board the flight. Even though I know that the battery I travel with is the right size, I have got the paper work and I have checked the regulations and I know my rights, they were just refusing to let me fly with it in the cabin. I sat my ground and I refused to let them bully me. Eventually the captain came out, and I said show me the piece of paper that tells me that I am wrong about this."

"I am pretty sure I know my rights by now because I have had to learn my rights," Sophie added. "Most people who fly, who are disabled, have to know their rights these days." She eventually got her attachment permitted and got it on board but explained her frustration at having to deal with situations like that. Sophie said: "I was so excited about the trip and I splashed out on business class, it was trip of a lifetime stuff.

"Then the first part of the trip was spent fighting for my rights. I just wanted to have the time off from campaigning. But that is why I am campaigning for Rights On Flights." Sophie's Rights On Flights campaign with MP Marion Fellows is demanding that the Government gives the Civil Aviation Authority more powers to fine airlines and other actors who fail in their obligations to Disabled travellers. She launched the campaign in January after arriving at Heathrow following an 11-hour flight to find her wheelchair and its battery-powered attachment smashed.

Sophie confessed she wanted to prove to her younger self what she can achieve whilst on her trip. She said: "I had no idea what I could do and that's part of the reason why I have done what I've done. Just to prove to myself that there are these amazing things that I can do that I think the younger version of me would have never expected and perhaps what other people might still not expect."

She added: "The reason I chose the US is because I absolutely love California, I have had a love affair with it for some time. I think it is because it is such an accessible space as a wheelchair user. Every time I have come here I find myself falling more and more in love with it because I just get to forget about being disabled out here. I find it far more accessible than London. I just thought I would ride from London to LA."

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