Ryanair ‘talking rubbish’ over claim it quickly reported racist rant to police
Ryanair has been accused of "talking rubbish" over its claim it "immediately" reported footage of racist abuse on one of its flights to police.
Delsie Gayle, a 77-year-old widow, was the victim of a tirade and called an "ugly black b*****d" on one of the budget airline's planes.
On Friday, a week after the incident, Ryanair issued a lengthy statement defending its handling of the matter after coming under criticism.
Despite admitting cabin crew were shown the video after landing at Stansted, Ryanair claimed it "immediately" shared the footage with police two days later on Sunday morning.
David Lawrence, 56, from Kent, was the passenger who took the video on the flight before it took off from Barcelona.
"They are talking rubbish," he said. "Their statement is making a lot of people confused – it doesn't make sense."
Mr Lawrence said he showed the footage to flight attendants at the end of the flight on October 19, as well as to Ryanair staff at the front desk.
The airline issued the statement in an effort to dispel "false claims" that it did not respond quickly.
It said Ryanair "only became aware of this video late on Saturday", before reporting it to Essex Police at 9am on Sunday.
This came after the footage spread widely on social media, and they came under much criticism for failing to eject the passenger from flight FR9015 before take-off.
The airline has not responded to repeated requests for comment on why staff did not raise the video with police after the flight.
Ryanair's statement came as David Mesher, of Birmingham, publicly apologised for the first time over his treatment of Ms Gayle, while he denied being a racist.
The airline's communications chief Robin Kiely apologised over the "regrettable and unacceptable remarks".
"We believe that by reporting this matter immediately to Essex Police and by apologising in writing to this customer early on Sunday morning, Ryanair treated it with the urgency and seriousness it warranted," he added.
Officers from West Midlands Police assisted Essex Police, who are leading the investigation, by speaking to Mr Mesher in his sheltered accommodation in Yardley Wood on Thursday.
The incident took place on the tarmac of Barcelona Airport before the plane departed for Stansted, so UK police have said officers will pass the investigation to Spanish authorities.
