A PARALYMPIC swimmer and her father were left unable to access their hotel room due to a broken lift. 

Paralympian Ellie Challis, 19, and her father Paul waited two hours before finding out there was no other accommodation available for them during their stay at the Premier Inn in Romford on December 2. 

According to them, they had no other choice but to make a 200-mile journey back to their home in Manchester in the middle of the night. 

Originally from Little Clacton, Ellie and her family have relocated to Manchester, which left them with a four-hour drive until they arrived home. 

The Premier Inn apologised for the inconvenience caused by "circumstances outside of our control" and offered a refund and a complimentary stay, yet her father and daughter said that the recompense was not enough. 

Ellie became Great Britain's youngest Paralympics medallist during the 2020 games in Tokyo when she made it to the podium in the Women’s S3 50m Backstroke. 

Ellie uses a wheelchair and had booked a standard room for her stay due to finding the wet rooms in accessible rooms uncomfortable. 

She told the BBC: “If I was on my own, I would have been left at 19 to find myself with somewhere to stay at 1am.” 

“There is no point in saying 'sorry' if you're not going to do something about it in the future,” her father told the BBC. 

"All my fight is to try and get these things cured for the future - not just for Ellie, for anybody, and at the moment these things are going to happen again.” 

A spokesman from the Premier Inn said: “This is a really unfortunate set of circumstances, this booking was made by the guest as a standard as opposed to an accessible room booking.  

“We completely understand some people prefer these and have a team who can make sure the best possible room is booked for people with accessible needs.  

“In this case, we were unaware of any needs or would have prioritised a standard ground floor room.  

“We really hope to welcome them back soon.”