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February 6, 2008

 

Ryanair ordered to pay damages to steel band 'terrorists' thrown off

jet

 

Alexi Mostrous

To most of the passengers on the Ryanair Flight from Sardinia to

London, the five black men sitting quietly in the economy cabin were

nothing more sinister than fellow passengers.

 

But to the psychology professor seated near them, they could only be

terrorists. For one thing, they were sitting apart - when they had

been together in the departure lounge - which could only be

suspicious. Worse, one of the group acted as if he was blind but was

reading newspapers and magazines. Or at least, that's what it looked

like to him. After he went to the pilot saying the aircraft was in

danger, Captain Sam Dunlop had the men removed from the aircraft.

 

The five members of Caribbean Steel International were awarded £1,116

each in damages yesterday after a judge found that they had been

removed unreasonably. Far from being terrorists, they were returning

from a music festival in Sardinia.

 

The court heard that the musicians were not sitting next to each other

because the flight was full. The band's drummer, Michael Toussaint,

was indeed blind and one of the other band members had been reading

the football scores to him from a newspaper while they waited for take-

off.

 

Captain Dunlop decided to remove the men, the only black people on the

flight, after two families and a stewardess said that they would not

fly with them on board.

 

Summing up at the Mayor's & City of London Court yesterday, district

judge Roger Southcombe said that the five claimants had been scared

and embarrassed when Italian police armed with guns boarded the

aircraft to take them off. Although they were later cleared by the

airport's security, the men had not been allowed to reboard the

Ryanair flight. The judge said that Captain Dunlop had adopted a " zero

tolerance " approach, despite being informed by the airport authorities

that the band posed no threat. " [Captain Dunlop] considered that he

must enforce that policy even though the residual fears of a few

passengers and crew were, he must have known by then, irrational, " the

judge said. " Just because a passenger was black or someone did not

like the look of him or her, it [was] not be acceptable to offload

that passenger. " The decision left the group stranded in Sardinia and

unable to see their families on New Year's Eve. The first available

flight back to Britain on New Year's Day was to Liverpool. The men

could not find a hotel when they arrived in the city and had to spend

the night at a bus station, sleeping on their instruments. They only

got back to London on January 2.

 

Jason Constantine, 43, a member of the band, said yesterday: " We were

utterly confused when we were marched off the plane by armed police

and then we were angry when they wouldn't let us back on. We were told

nothing by the airline or the pilot.

 

" The least you would have expected in this situation was an

explanation and an apology, but that wasn't forthcoming. "

 

Normally, damages for being denied boarding are limited to £250, but

the judge said that the group's " embarrassment at being the only black

persons removed from the aircraft at gunpoint for no just reason,

their inability to be with their families and friends on New Year's

Eve and New Year's Day, the overnight stay in the cold of Liverpool,

[all] had to be taken into account " .

 

Ryanair had also lied about the incident to the press. Peter Sherrard,

the airline's head of communications, had told newspapers that

" airport security were informed and decided to remove the group " , and

that " no request was made to our pilot to allow this group to

reboard " . This was " false and misleading " , the judge said.

 

Phillip Marshall, QC, representing the band, heard about the case

while listening to In Touch, a Radio 4 programme about disabilities.

" It was an extraordinary case. Ryanair decided to fight it tooth and

nail. Any other sensible airline would have realised they should have

paid compensation, " he said.

 

A spokesman for Ryanair said last night that it would appeal against

the decision.

 

 

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius