[access-uk] Re: Ryanair is attacked for ejecting blind passengers
- From: "Barry Toner" <barry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 01:10:27 -0000
Not to mention off topic!
Now c'mon. I'm totally Blind myself and this annoys me as much as anyone
else but this is a Access Tech list. This is also a topic that could
quickly explode.
Please no one else post on this topic. I'll allow a cut off period up to
1pm tomorrow. This is to allow folks a bit of flexability. Peter I'm
putting you on moderation for a bit.
Barry
List Admin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Iain Lackie
> Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 12:19 AM
> To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [access-uk] Re: Ryanair is attacked for ejecting blind
> passengers
>
> Judging by the dateline, Is this not rather old news?
>
> Iain
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Beasley
> Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 12:15 AM
> To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [access-uk] Ryanair is attacked for ejecting blind passengers
>
>
> Ryanair is attacked for ejecting blind passengers
> Ryanair is attacked for ejecting blind passengers
> By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
> The Independent, Thursday, 13 October 2005
> Ryanair, the no-frills airline, is under fire from disability
> campaigners for ejecting nine blind and partially sighted passengers
> from a
> plane just minutes before take-off.
> The passengers, who were travelling to Italy for a walking holiday, had
> completed check-in procedures and were sitting on the plane at Stansted
> when
> the pilot announced they would have to vacate their seats. They were
> then
> "marched" off and escorted back to the airport lounge.
> Some waited six hours for another flight while others were forced to
> sleep
> on the airport floor overnight. One of the party was so distressed by
> the
> incident - to be featured on BBC's Watchdog
> programme next week - she abandoned her holiday.
> "It was dreadful. You felt like a criminal. We were all devastated,"
> one of
> the blind passengers, Beryl Barton, from Norwich, said. "Five minutes
> before
> take-off the pilot asked: 'Are many of you blind?' and we said: 'Yes,
> one or
> two' and he said: 'We have already got disabled people on the flight
> and you
> will have to get off'. They marched us through to the lounge and this
> lady
> came and she said: 'Of course, you got off of your own accord' and we
> shouted: 'No, we haven't."
> There was no safety justification, she insisted: "We can all walk.
> We've all got a partially-sighted or sighted guide. We could get off as
> quickly as anyone else."
> Ryanair explained it could not take the customers because it already
> had
> three "disabled" people on board (unconnected to the party) and it
> stipulates no more than four "disabled" people on each flight.
> However, the organiser of the trip, Katherine Hurst said she rang
> Ryanair
> eight months before she travelled to check there would be no problems.
> She
> said: "The pilot said: 'How would you manage if the cabin was full of
> smoke'
> but it wouldn't make any difference. They are used to not seeing."
> Ryanair, whose chief executive is Michael O'Leary, has a controversial
> record on disabled people. Last year, it lost a case brought by a
> disabled
> man who was charged 18 for the use of a whreelchair.
> Afterwards it said that it would have to raise ticket prices as a
> result.
> The Royal National Institute for the Blind has received eight
> complaints
> about Ryanair, an unusually high number about one company.
> In one case, it is considering legal action. Jane Vernon, its legal
> officer,
> said: "I think Ryanair's whole attitude towards disabled people is
> disgraceful. Saying on their website they are charging an extra 50p per
> ticket to pay for wheelchairs for disabled people is despicable."
> Ryanair insisted its policy on disabled passengers was "clearly
> highlighted"
> on its website and did not know of the RNIB's cases. It said it had
> "repeatedly apologised" to the passengers removed from the plane.
> In-flight turbulence
> Bob Ross took on Ryanair over being charged 18 for the use of a
> wheelchair
> at Stansted in March 2002. When Mr Ross, a cerebral palsy sufferer, won
> the
> case , Ryanair was quick to appeal, saying a 50p surcharge on all
> tickets
> would be levied to cover the cost of providing wheelchairs. They lost
> the
> appeal.
> In March this year, Ryanair was fined 24,000 for misleading customers
> about
> the price of flights from Stansted.
> This year, the airline, which charges employees for uniforms, announced
> that
> mobile phones must not be charged at work.
> An advert launched just after the London bombings featured Winston
> Churchill
> saying: "We shall fly them to the beaches ... we shall fly them to
> London"
> It drew 319 complaints, but was deemed "suitably respectful" by the
> Advertising Standards Authority.
> From:
> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/ryanair-is-attacked-f
> or-ejecting-blind-passengers-510715.html
>
>
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>
>
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