[Ammi]

An eight-time Paralympic gold medallist says she was reduced to tears after she was left stranded on train when the operator failed to provide her with ramps to get on and off.

Equestrian Sophie Christiansen was forced to rely on members of the public after her calls to South Western Railway for assistance went unanswered.

Video footage shows one member of the public preventing the train doors from closing with Ms Christiansen stuck on board, before a ramp was finally organised to help her disembark.

Ms Christiansen, who has cerebral palsy and has been in a wheelchair all her life, said Wednesday's incident was not a one-off and "something needs to change".

South Western said it has reached out to her to apologise and is investigating what happened "as a priority".

In order for somebody in a wheelchair to board or disembark a train, a train assistant must manually lay down a ramp. When this happens, Ms Christiansen says the process is "seamless" and very quick.

However when she arrived at Waterloo Station after work to board the train home to Godlaming she was unable to find an assistant to lay a ramp, so two members of the public lifted her onto the train in her wheelchair.

While on the train, Ms Christiansen tweeted at South Western and asked them to organise an assistant to lay a ramp when she arrived at Godlaming.

"There's a phone number you can ring for assistance but you end up waiting on hold for so long it's useless," she said.

She said South Western Railway responded saying a guard would be there to help her. But there was nobody waiting at the station to help her get off.

"A member of the general public had to stand there and physically stop the door from shutting while shouting at the guard to get the ramp so I could get off the train," she said.

She tweeted a video of the incident, creating an uproar on social media.

Irish actress Bronagh Waugh wrote in response: "I'm so sorry you had to deal with this, it's completely unnacceptable. Sort it out @SW_Railway @Sw_Help Come on guys, you can do better."

[arista]

Yes Shocking Ammi

[Kate!]

This is terrible. Poor lady.