You don’t need Channel 4’s five months of undercover filming to find out that Ryanair takes a hard-nosed attitude to its customers. Just try claiming for a pair of missing prescription sunglasses.

On the journey home from a family holiday in Italy, my prescription sunnies vanished from the zipped outer pocket of my bag after I had checked it in at Rome Ciampino airport for the Ryanair flight to Stansted. I did not notice they were missing until unpacking at home that night.

I reported the loss the next morning, via expensive phone calls (Ryanair’s number is a premium-rate line) and then faxes. Ryanair refused to consider my claim, aiming a double-barrelled shotgun at me. Bang: I had not filled in a Property Irregularity Report at Stansted, detailing my loss. Bang: I should not have packed “valuable” spectacles in my checked baggage.

It was all in the small print of Ryanair’s General Conditions of Carriage, said its London lawyers.

How, I protested, could I have reported my lost specs before I knew they were missing? Tough. Taking my bags from the airport without filling in a report was prima-facie evidence, said Ryanair, that my luggage was delivered to me in good condition.

As for “valuable”, I pointed out that the specs’ replacement cost was only £250 or so (I would happily have settled for less). In any case, a pair of specs is not quite the same thing as jewellery or money, items that were specifically excluded in the small print.

Refusing to play dead, I filed a compensation claim against Ryanair online (at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk, it cost me £30). The airline promptly offered “by way of a concrete token of regret” to repay me the 30 quid.

As well as this unappetising carrot, there was a stick. It would be “unreasonable” of me to proceed. Nasty word, “unreasonable”. It is the kind of word Ryanair’s solicitors might have used had they urged a court to award costs against an unsuccessful claimant.

Shrugging off the frighteners, I turned down the offer, but told them I would be open to some contribution towards my loss. No deal.

Other obstacles were thrown up. Seizing on a technicality, Ryanair went to court to make me re-serve my claim. That didn’t put me off. Neither did a vague suggestion that Ryanair might be hard to pursue in the UK, given its status as an Irish-registered company.

So it was some months later that I finally got my day — well, my hour — in the county court at Hastings. I represented myself. Ryanair sent a solicitor from London on a 100-mile day return. Expensive, but he looked young enough to pay half-fare.

My case was simple. My specs had gone missing while in Ryanair’s care.

I had reported the loss well within the required seven-day time limit. I had done lots of homework, boning up on the Montreal Convention, which details airlines’ responsibilities on missed flights and lost luggage. The convention makes no mention of anything called a “property irregularity report”. Nor does it have anything much to say about “valuables”.