Our Client was travelling from Sofia to Birmingham with Ryanair and experienced a nearly 5 hour delay. Hayward Baker were instructed to bring court proceedings against Ryanair for their refusal to pay compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004. Ryanair sought to argue that the flight was delayed due to “extraordinary circumstances which no reasonable measures could have avoided”.
The claim went all the way to a final hearing at the Bradford County Court where District Judge Hickinbottom ordered Ryanair to pay compensation to our Clients of £778.14. The Judge agreed with the Claimants that they had failed to prove that they took all reasonable measures to mitigate against the delay. In his Judgment the Judge held that:
“The Claimants suggest that the Defendant should have a contingency plan to deal with circumstances such as those which arose on 22nd June. Adverse weather conditions are an inevitable potential event. The Defendant have produced no indication of a plan, let alone the material upon which a Court could test efficacy.
The Defendant’s evidence….is in the most general terms. Without giving numbers, there are spare aircrafts within the fleet. It appears that a policy decision has been made to reserve spare planes for purposes of replacement in the event of mechanical breakdown.
Such evidence does not seem to me sufficient to discharge the Defendant’s burden”