Businessman sues BA ... for squeezing him next to 23st passenger
A BUSINESSMAN is suing British Airways claiming he was left with back injuries after he was made to sit next to a 23-stone passenger.
Company director Stephen Prosser, 51, said he suffered soft tissue damage after the obese man ‘wedged’ himself into the seat next to him for the longhaul flight.
Mr Prosser says the passenger, who was about 6ft 5in tall, was so large that his body fat ‘spilled’ into his window seat by several inches, crushing him against the side of the plane. Lawyers acting for the freelance civil engineer say he was ‘forced to adjust his body and sit in an awkward and uncomfortable position’ for the entire 13-hour BA flight from Bangkok to London.
Mr Prosser, who is 5ft 2in tall and weighs ten stone, claims the incident left him suffering for three months.
He is seeking damages of between £5,000 and £10,000 for pain, suffering and loss of amenity and the case is due to be heard at Pontypridd County Court today.
British Airways denies the claims, saying that Mr Prosser ‘did not display any signs of injury’ when he left the flight.
The father-of-two, from Tonypandy, South Wales, said: ‘I’d spent Christmas with friends in Thailand and was returning home on January 10, 2016.
‘I’d paid over £1,000 for the flight. Just as the plane door was about to close, this 6ft 5in hulk, weighing about 23 stone, got on board and sat between myself and another passenger who had the aisle seat. He was a huge bloke, not just overweight but really big-boned as well. He was a real lump. I felt discomfort as soon as he sat down because I was pinned against the side of the cabin.
‘I asked the flight attendants whether they could move him or me but it was a full flight.
‘They said there wasn’t anything they could do. I had no choice but to go back to my seat and the discomfort at being squashed against the cabin soon turned to agony.
‘The staff should have asked the passenger on the aisle seat to swap with the larger man in the middle, but they didn’t and I ended up doing a lot of damage to my back over the course of a nightmare 13 hours.’
According to defence documents to the claim, the customer service manager on the flight thought Mr Prosser wanted an upgrade and told him the flight was full.
He said the passenger next to Mr Prosser was ‘well built and over 6ft tall, but certainly not fat’. BA says the passenger ‘did not have fat which was spilling over the arm rest’ and that Mr Prosser was given extra pillows and blankets to support his back.