Mark Mardell, the veteran BBC presenter who once reported from the White House and the European parliament, says he was left humiliated after Turkish Airlines refused to let him board a London-bound flight because of his Parkinson’s.
The broadcaster, diagnosed with the degenerative neurological condition three years ago, was prevented from flying from Istanbul to London Gatwick without a GP letter confirming he was fit to travel. Mardell, 68, then spent seven hours alone in Istanbul airport — one of the largest in the world.
“I feel so humiliated. It’s this terrible feeling that you are so vulnerable. I nearly burst into tears about five times,” he told The Sunday Times.
During appeals for help, he said one female employee looked at him and remarked: “Look at you — your hands are shaking.” Although tremors are a common Parkinson’s symptom, Mardell said he does not have one and believed he was shaking only from stress.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the airline’s policy is, in its view, unlawful under UK law and has raised the issue with senior figures at Turkish Airlines. However, as the carrier is non-UK and non-EU, the case sits outside the CAA’s formal remit.
Mardell, who lives in Banstead, Surrey, enjoyed a 25-year BBC career before leaving in 2020. He is now one of six presenters of Movers and Shakers — a popular podcast about living with Parkinson’s, co-hosted by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman. Despite the subject matter, the show is often funny, upbeat and reassuring for listeners affected by the disease.
Under CAA rules, UK airlines cannot demand medical proof that a passenger is fit to fly — including those with Parkinson’s — unless there is “reasonable doubt” they can complete the journey safely without additional assistance.
Mardell had travelled to Istanbul on 20 October with his son Jake, 32, for an “amazing” week-long road trip. He flew into Turkey with Wizz Air, which did not request a doctor’s letter, in line with airlines he has used since his diagnosis.
A week later, the pair returned to Istanbul airport for their flights home — Mardell to London with Turkish Airlines and Jake to Berlin for work. After check-in, Jake told staff his father had Parkinson’s and required assisted boarding, something Mardell has only recently begun using. Parkinson’s affects people differently and can involve depression, hallucinations, constipation, loss of smell and mobility issues. Mardell’s main symptoms are a weak voice and reduced movement.
“It’s quite a hard thing to admit, even to yourself, that you are disabled,” he said. “It is quite a thing for me to say: ‘I need assisted boarding, I am handicapped’… You know it does lower you in the estimation of some people, makes you lesser in their eyes.”
But staff insisted he could only fly with a GP letter stating it was safe for him to travel. “We thought they meant originally a letter from your doctor to prove you had Parkinson’s,” he said. “No, it turns out you can’t fly without a letter from your doctor to say there is no harm in flying.”
Mardell said one staff member was “really horrible”, adding: “She said, ‘no he has got Parkinson’s, you can’t let him on board.’ She went off to be horrible to some other passenger in a wheelchair and shouted at them.
“She said, ‘look at you, your hands are shaking.’ My hands don’t shake. It’s not one of my symptoms. But maybe they were because I was nervous and upset. It was so mean. She said: ‘It’s for your own good’. So my bags were taken off the flight.”
Jake then had to leave to board his own flight — something he feels guilty about, though his father insisted he go. Mardell was left navigating the vast airport alone as he tried to find where his luggage had been taken.
“You are feeling vulnerable anyway and you are staggering around… and I just couldn’t walk anymore. I just wanted to sit down,” he said. “The odd thing was that they say it’s for your own good and then they let you stagger around an airport.” People with Parkinson’s can often “freeze”, making walking extremely difficult under stress.
After hours of searching, another passenger helped him locate the correct area. He waited several more hours before his bags were finally returned. Jake booked him a hotel for the night and a Wizz Air flight home the following day — again with no request for medical evidence. Mardell landed back in the UK on 26 October.
He later complained to Turkish Airlines, and an employee wished him a “speedy recovery”. Parkinson’s is incurable.
The airline’s website states that passengers with Parkinson’s can be “admitted to the flight with a doctor’s report stating that ‘there is no harm in traveling by plane’.”
On Wednesday, Mardell received a phone call offering a full refund for the missed flight.
On Thursday, Caroline Rassell, chief executive of Parkinson’s UK, wrote to Turkish Airlines boss Bilal Eksi, calling the policy “ill-informed” and saying: “This is totally unnecessary and based on a misunderstanding of this condition. People with Parkinson’s may experience altered speech or movement. However, they are perfectly capable of managing their condition and travelling independently.” The airline was approached for comment.
Mardell’s ordeal adds to a long list of failures around assisted boarding. In 2022, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, who uses a wheelchair, was left on a plane at Heathrow long after other passengers had disembarked — an issue he regularly highlights. Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson has faced similar problems; last year she was forced to “crawl off” an LNER train at London King’s Cross after waiting 20 minutes for assistance.
A CAA spokesperson said: “We strongly believe that everyone should have access to air travel and recognise how important it is for people to feel supported and included when they fly.
“As the UK regulator, we set clear standards and monitor how these are met within the UK system. Mr Mardell’s flight was operated by a non-UK/EU carrier, departing from an airport outside of the UK, which falls outside the remit of the UK Civil Aviation Authority.”
