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Ryanair under fire for failing to take action against passenger who launched racist tirade

Ryanair is facing a public backlash for its failure to remove a man from a plane after he launched a torrent of racist abuse at a fellow passenger.

The man was filmed calling the 77-year-old woman an "ugly black bastard", and shouting "don't talk to me in a foreign language you stupid ugly cow" when she spoke with a Jamaican accent.

The footage was recorded on Friday on Ryanair flight FR015 from Barcelona to London Stansted, before takeoff, by a fellow passenger who published it on social media.

It shows the man yelling at the woman to move seats while her daughter tries to stand up to him, telling him her mother is disabled.

He replies: "I don't care whether she's f------ disabled or not - if I tell her to get out she gets out."

The man then calls her "an ugly f------ c---" and tells staff to move the woman to another seat, adding: "if you don't go to another seat I'll push you to another seat".

The Ryanair passenger who was filmed launched a racist attack at an elderly woman - Credit: Facebook: David Lawrence
The Ryanair passenger who was filmed launched a racist attack at an elderly woman Credit: Facebook: David Lawrence

Staff on the flight appeared to do little to silence the man, while a passenger in the row behind intervened in an attempt to deal with the situation.

The cabin crew can be heard to say: "Don't be so rude, you have to calm down" as other passengers gasped at his language and called for the man to be thrown off the flight.

Eventually, the woman was given another seat, while he was allowed to remain where he was.

The video has attracted more than 10,000 comments and tens of thousands of retweets and shares since it was posted online by David Lawrence, from Kent, on Friday.

The victim was identified as Mrs Gayle, 77, from east London, a member of the Windrush generation, who was left "feeling upset and very stressed" about the situation.

Mrs Gayle's 53-year-old daughter, who was not identified, called for an apology from Ryanair. She told the Huffington Post she had taken her mother on a short break to lift her spirits as she was grieving the death of her husband of 50 years.

"My mother has worked her all of her life, paid her taxes and her dues,” she added. “Why should she have to go through all of this?”

She said she would never fly Ryanair again, adding that had a black person behaved in that way police would have been called.

Several politicians voiced anger at Ryanair's apparent lack of action in removing the man from the flight.

David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, said: “Ok boycott Ryanair⁩ if they think it’s ok for a racist man to abuse an elderly black woman and remain on the plane.

“It’s 63 years since Rosa Parks said “No “ to sitting on the back of the Bus and we ain’t going back.”

Karl Turner, the shadow Attorney General and Labour MP for East Hull, tweeted: "He should have been removed from the flight and handed over to the police.”

Margaret Ferrier, an MSP, said: "Just watched the shocking footage on a Ryanair aircraft, utterly disgusting. Racist male passenger should have been put off flight before it departed.

"Flight attendant incapable of responding appropriately.”

Jeremy Vine,  the broadcaster, said ;”If this is Ryanair, they need to explain how this man's disgusting racial abuse of the black lady in the seat next to him ends up with her being asked to move. It is beyond belief.”

Ryanair said on Sunday that it had reported the incident to Essex police.

The force confirmed it had been made aware of the incident, and said it took all "prejudice-based crime seriously".

It added: "We are working closely with Ryanair and the Spanish authorities on the investigation."

Mr Lawrence, who filmed the incident, said: "The film was posted two days ago and it's only now that they're responding which is absolutely unacceptable.”

Ryanair said: "As this is now a police matter, we cannot comment further."