FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

London, 25 June 2025 – Paralympic gold medallists Hannah Cockroft and Nathan Maguire are demanding urgent reforms after a shocking fire alarm failure at the Holiday Inn Camden, London this morning, put their lives at serious risk.

The pair, who are both wheelchair users and leading accessibility advocates, were staying in what was labelled an “accessible room” when a fire alarm was triggered throughout the hotel. While other guests evacuated, Cockroft and Maguire remained unaware—no audible alarm, no flashing lights, no vibrating pillow—until a fire marshal knocked on their door and guided them out via a lift, despite standard emergency procedures warning against lift use in a fire.

“This could have been a real fire,” said Maguire, a Snowball Assessor who works to improve accessibility standards in businesses. “If no one had come to the door, we could have been left behind. What about people who are deaf or hard of hearing? There was no flashing light, no vibrating device—nothing.”

Cockroft, a multi-gold-medal Paralympian and Ambassador for Snowball, the UK’s leading accessibility app, added:

“Every hotel needs to have a Snowball accessibility rating. It doesn’t just show if a room has step-free access—it reveals whether it’s actually safe. Because what’s the point of being able to get into a room if you can’t get out alive?”

When Maguire questioned hotel staff on what would have happened if the alarm had been real, no explanation was offered.

Simon Sansome, CEO of Snowball, condemned the failure in the strongest terms:

“This is absolutely outrageous. If there had been a real fire, they simply would’ve died. It’s beyond unacceptable that in 2025, major hotel chains are still failing to implement basic life-saving features in so-called accessible rooms.”

The couple are now calling on Holiday Inn and parent company IHG to urgently audit and upgrade their accessible rooms to meet minimum life safety standards, including visual and tactile alerts for disabled guests. They are also urging the UK hospitality industry to treat accessibility as a serious issue of safety—not just convenience.

“This isn’t an isolated mistake,” said Cockroft. “It’s a systemic failure. Disabled guests are constantly being put at risk because safety measures are designed for able-bodied people first. That has to change.”

This incident has reignited national concerns over fire safety, accessibility compliance, and the lack of emergency preparedness for disabled people in hotels and public spaces.

END