AIRPORTS have been told to address “unacceptable” failings affecting disabled people or face enforcement action, the aviation regulator has warned.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it had seen an increase in reports of “significant service failings” and believes such incidents could have been avoided by better management of assistance service function, despite current travel disruptions.

In some cases, passengers were left waiting for hours for assistance to get off aircraft, it said.

In a letter, group director of consumers and markets Paul Smith said the incidents were unacceptable and distressing for those involved.

“It is also self-evident that those with less mobility will find it more difficult to access support at airports when things go wrong, as compared to a passenger who might be able to seek out airport staff to assist with baggage delays, for example,” he said.

The CAA will ask all airports with a high number of passengers using assistance services to set out what additional measures they have taken to address the issue by June 21.

It comes after a woman who is paralysed from the neck down was left stranded on a plane for more than 90 minutes last week when airport staff failed to arrive to provide assistance.

Victoria Brignell, from Shepherd’s Bush in London, was returning home last week following a holiday in Malta through Gatwick Airport.

Ms Brignell told the Press Association: “Shortly after landing, the British Airways airline staff came up to me and said they’re sorry but the people who are meant to help get me off the plane would not be there for 50 minutes.

“Time passed and I was then told it would be another half an hour on top of that. In the end, I was waiting an hour and 35 minutes.

“I am paralysed from the neck down, so I can’t use my arms or legs. To get off a plane, I need two people to lift me from the aeroplane seat into an aisle chair, which is a specially designed narrow wheelchair to push me along the aisle off the plane, and lift me into my wheelchair waiting outside.”

A spokeswoman for Gatwick Airport apologised for the incident and said the treatment she received was “unacceptable”.