A disabled man who was forced to pay for the use of a wheelchair at Stansted airport has won his court case against budget airline Ryanair, with a judge ruling that the airline’s behaviour was unlawful.

The court case was heard on 30 January by Judge Crawford Lindsay at the Central London County Court. Judge Lindsay ruled that Ryanair had discriminated against Bob Ross, who suffers from cerebral palsy, and should have provided a wheelchair free of charge.

54 year-old Ross, who has suffered from cerebral palsy since birth, finds walking very painful and normally uses crutches.

However, requiring a wheelchair to get through Stansted airport in February 2002, he was forced to pay twice to enable him to get to and from his flights at the airport, which amounted to more than his £20 return flight to Perpignan, France.

Mr Ross argued that he was charged extra for the wheelchair hire because he ‘wasn’t able to walk to the check-in desk’. He was awarded £1,336 in compensation to cover the £36 wheelchair hire, the purchase of a wheelchair at £300 and £1,000 for injury to his feelings.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC), who brought the case on behalf of Mr Ross, believed that the ruling was ‘good news for disabled travellers’ and is now considering a class action against the airline if it does not offer compensation to a further 50 disabled people who have also complained about paying the wheelchair charge.

Bob Ross said after the judgement at London County Court: "The decision is great news, not just for me, but for many other disabled people.

“It was blatantly unfair that I should pay more to fly simply because of my disability. Ryanair were operating a two-tier fares system – a cheap deal for non-disabled passengers but a raw deal for disabled travellers."

However, a Ryanair spokesperson commented: “We believe the decision of the County Court is defective.

“It should clearly be the responsibility of the very profitable airport terminal operators to provide disabled passenger assistance through their building on a free of charge basis. We have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal this decision. In the meantime, Ryanair regrettably will be levying a charge of 50p on every passenger in order to meet the cost of wheelchair assistance.”

Chair of the DRC, Bert Massie, said: "All right-thinking people knew that Ryanair’s wheelchair charge was grossly unfair.

“It beggars belief that a company with £165.23 million annual profits last year should quibble over meeting the cost of providing disabled people with a wheelchair. This judgment has confirmed that it is Ryanair's responsibility to pick up the costs. I suggest they do this with some humility." Details: www.ryanair.com or www.drc-gb.org