"Airlines and airports must provide wheelchairs, British court rules"

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Airlines and airports must provide wheelchairs, British court rules
The Associated Press


LONDON - Britain's Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld a lower-court judgment
that no-frills airline Ryanair must pay damages to a disabled man who was
charged 18 pounds (US$32, 27 euros) for using a wheelchair at an airport.

Three appeal judges said that Stansted Airport and Ryanair had an equal
responsibility to provide free wheelchair access. In not doing so, they
discriminated against the disabled, the court ruled.

In January, the Central London County Court ruled that Ryanair had acted
unlawfully by not providing Bob Ross, 54, with a wheelchair free of charge
when he arrived at Stansted Airport north of London for a flight to
Perpignan, France, in February 2002, and when he returned a month later.

The court awarded Ross, who has cerebral palsy, 1,336 pounds (US$2,400,
1,800 euros) in compensation.


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