Ryanair to levy new charge after ruling

Budget airline Ryanair has announced it will levy a charge on all passengers after a disabled man won a landmark case against the firm today.

Bob Ross, 55, claimed the £18 (€25) fee he handed over to use a wheelchair from the check-in desk to a plane at Stansted Airport in 2002 was discriminatory and unfair.

His case was taken up by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and Judge Crawford Lindsay QC, sitting in the Central London County Court today, ruled Ryanair had discriminated against Mr Ross.

A spokesman for the budget airline described the judgment as “defective” and said the company would be charging every passenger 50p to meet the cost of providing wheelchair assistance at a number of airports in the UK and Ireland.

He added: “We have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal this decision, and we believe the Court of Appeal will find in favour of current EU thinking which is that these costs should be the responsibility of the airport terminal owner and operator.

“In the meantime, Ryanair regrettably will be levying a charge of 50p on every passenger carried in order to meet the cost of wheelchair assistants at Stansted, Gatwick, Dublin and Shannon airports, which are the only airports out of the 86 European airports Ryanair operates to who do not provide this mobility assistance through the airport terminal on a free-of-charge basis.”

Outside the court Mr Ross, from Islington, north London, who has suffered from cerebral palsy since birth which makes it difficult for him to walk, reacted angrily to the new levy.

He said: “I don’t know why Ryanair are doing it. The point is they are making enormous profits and I feel they could absorb that (wheelchair) charge without putting the price of their tickets up.

“My barrister calculated the increase ought to be 2p a ticket if there was an increase and the Disability Rights Commission support that view.”

The community worker, who also has asthma, added: “I hope that Ryanair will see that it’s wrong to charge disabled passengers for the use of wheelchairs and get rid of the charges.”

The DRC now wants Ryanair to pay compensation to 35 disabled people who have complained about paying the wheelchair charge during the past 12 months.

If no compensation is offered, the commission has said it will start a group action against the airline.

Bert Massie, the DRC’s chairman, speaking about today’s judgment, said: “This is good news for disabled travellers. I hope that Ryanair will ensure that wheelchairs are now provided free to disabled people, just as other airlines do.”

The DRC launched the case on behalf of Mr Ross after he was charged £18 (€25) for the use of a wheelchair when he travelled from London to Perpignan in France in February 2002 and again on his return journey a month later.

Mr Ross told Central London County Court that he rarely used a chair, preferring crutches or sticks instead, but that he finds walking extremely painful.

The 1km journey through the airport was too much for the regular traveller to manage, the court was told earlier.

The case was originally brought against both Ryanair and Stansted Airport, with both parties disagreeing over who should foot the cost of the wheelchair.

But Judge Lindsay said in his judgment: “As appears from the evidence the reasons for Ryanair’s policy were commercial.

“They could and, in my judgment, should have changed that policy so as to pay the cost for all passengers who required a wheelchair.”

The court awarded Mr Ross £1,336 (€1,950) in compensation.

This covers the original £36 (€52) cost of hiring a wheelchair for his outward and return journeys, the purchase of a wheelchair by him which cost £300 (€438) and £1,000 (€1,460) for injury to his feelings.

Stansted Airport said in a statement that it welcomed the courts decision and added that it did “not support direct charges to special needs passengers for wheelchair use.”