Organisers of the COP 26 Climate Summit have been embarrassed after Israel’s energy minister was unable to attend the event because parts of her journey to the conference centre was not wheelchair compatible.

Karine Elharrar waited for two hours outside the event after officials refused to let her enter the compound in the vehicle which she had arrived in.

Eventually, she was offered transport to the centre but the shuttle she was in was not accessible for wheelchairs and she was forced to return to her hotel, 50 miles away in Edinburgh.

Ms Elharrar is a wheelchair user with muscular dystrophy.

COP 26 Climate Summit

 

The Isreali delegation made a formal complaint to organisers and said that Ms Elharrar would not even attempt to attend the summit if she could not be guaranteed a better journey.

The UK ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan apologised ‘deeply and sincerely’ and said everyone wanted a COP summit that was ‘welcoming and inclusive’ to everyone.

Speaking to an Isreali broadcaster, Ms Elharrar said: “Hopefully the lessons learned will be learned so that green energy promotion, removal of barriers and energy efficiency will be the things I will deal with.”

Kelly Barton, who is visually impaired and owner of Six Dots Counselling service for visually impaired people in Merseyside said she was not surprised by the incident.

Wheelchair users

 

Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, the following day, she said: “We use great language these days around inclusivity and accessibility – but often it’s just words.

“We just need people to start putting that into practice.”

Callers to the radio station’s live phone added their own stories of being denied access to venues in recent times

One said they had ‘sat on the pavement for 30 minutes outside a venue waiting for help’.

Carried up the stairs

 

While caller Mike said he attended a regional teaching awards ceremony in Bristol which had no access for wheelchair users. He had to be carried up a flight of stairs and could not sit with his colleagues.

He added: “I was then chastised by the manager of the venue for complaining!”

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