Ryanair Decides To Sue UK Government

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Source:ananova.com

Ryanair Decides To Sue Government

Ryanair is to sue the UK Government for £3m compensation following delays and cancellations resulting from changes to airport security.

The no-frills airline had last week given ministers seven days to change security arrangements back to how they were before the alleged terror plot was revealed.

Tougher restrictions on hand luggage were introduced in the wake of the alleged airline bomb plot on August 10.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has been an outspoken critic of the way the Government has been handling security checks at airports.

The company has said it will donate all proceeds from its action to charity if it is successful.

Ryanair has said there are a number of reasons why the new security measures are "ineffective".

It argues that it is illogical that the rules apply to flight out of the UK but not to flights back into the UK and says there is no reason for the reduced hand luggage size as it is only 20% smaller than the normal international standard.

In addition, it says that body searching every second passenger means that many people who are clearly not terrorists are being searched, while it says that confiscating liquids and then allowing passengers to buy them again at airside shops makes no sense.

Mr O'Leary said: "The way to defeat terrorism is to get back to normal.

"The purpose of this claim is to encourage the DfT to restore UK airport security to the effective IATA norm.

He added that in the future, he wanted ministers to put in "the necessary police and army personnel to carry out the extra security checks whenever the Government decides to double or quadruple them again, without notice."

However, the Department for Transport said Ryanair had no legal grounds to seek compensation.

Other airlines said they had no plans to seek damages from the UK government.