I was on Ryanair's flight FR8326 from Valencia to London Stansted on June 9th. Moving off, the pilot reversed the plane into the terminal airbridge, resulting in damage to the plane's wing, preventing it from flying. Ryanair disembarked the passengers leaving them stranded in the closed down terminal building. After a wait of almost three hours, the company’s representatives finally announced that they could offer passengers the price of their tickets back, or attempt to place them on flights out over the following week. They refused to make any arrangements for overnight accommodation, or provide any food or refreshments.

All facilities in the terminal building were closed down for the evening. They also refused to reschedule the flight. The very limited availability of seats on subsequent flights out of Valencia to London meant that only four seats were available the following day to a plane load of some 150 or so passengers. The earliest availability by the time the tenth passenger got to the head of the queue at the booking office window was Tuesday night! And there was still some 140 passengers to reschedule. Passengers were simply told that they would have to arrange and pay for the subsequent days of additional accommodation while they waited to be flown back, hopefully some time this week. Ryanair also offered to place passengers on available seats on its flights going to any other city, from where they could book return journeys to the UK, but at their own cost, even on Ryanair flights.

On the question of compensation, Ryanair’s representatives were attempting to offer passengers back the price of their return tickets, only explaining when directly asked that this would exempt the company from any subsequent claims for the reimbursement of additional costs incurred by passengers: many passengers had booked the flight for the promotional cost of a pound, or in some cases even a penny, and this was precisely what they were being offered as a refund.

The company's representative also handed out compensation policy statements, and a fax number in order to subsequently attempt to reclaim the cost of overstaying or presumably making alternative travel arrangements, however the policy statement defines the cancellation as being due to an unforeseen incident and therefore not subject to compensation claims, casting considerable doubt on the chances of getting any monies back from Ryanair particularly given their proven track record in this respect. Keith Grant, by email

A response from a Ryanair spokesperson: All passengers were provided with a choice of full refund (including taxes and charges) or transfer to the next available flight.

Passengers who chose the next available flight were provided with seats the following day, either directly to London or via alternative airports. All passengers were also provided with EU 261 forms and were invited to submit their reasonable receipted expenses for review.

Lastly, it is the airport marshals at the airport who direct the aircraft when it is pushing back from stand.

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