A disabled man was reportedly kicked off Ryanair flight after the airline staff told him that his wheelchair was too heavy.

24-year-old Brandon Aughton from Nottingham, UK, was about to take off from East Midlands Airport to go on vacation together with his carer, Orla Hennessey, when the staff told him he would have to leave because they couldn’t load his adapted 600-pound wheelchair into the cargo hold.

As Ryanair staff insisted, the airport workers were unable to get the specially designed wheelchair into the plane due to its weight, leaving the young man who has cerebral palsy with no option but to leave the aircraft.

After being told to leave the plane by the pilot, Aughton admitted feeling angry over the incident as he revealed he had previously traveled with the same wheelchair without any problems.

Since the incident, the young man’s carer also confirmed that the airline was informed of Brandon’s wheelchair and its weight well in advance and that they reassured them it could be loaded onto the plane.

“Brandon got really upset at one point – it felt like no-one wanted to help us. It was Swissport’s responsibility to put the wheelchair on the plane and tell the ground crew that it needs to go on the plane, but they didn’t do it and there wasn’t any equipment to lift it as it’s a 270kg [595lbs] chair,” Hennessey said.

“There were four of them there saying they could not lift it because of health and safety and they unceremoniously booted us off the flight even though we had the letter from Ryanair to say the chair was not too heavy and it could be taken.

“The lady from Swissport said we gave them wrong information, but we told them they had the information as Ryanair said it was all fine.”

While the young man was able to book another flight and travel abroad on the following day, he was allegedly forced to make a compromise and take his lighter, manually-operated wheelchair with him instead.

“Brandon still wanted to go on holiday and a disability holiday agency managed to get flights for us the next day, but we had to take a manual wheelchair – which is completely unacceptable for Brandon’s needs,” the carer added.

“He didn’t have his mobility and it’s like taking someone’s legs away from them – it was quite distressing.”

After the incident, the allegations were confirmed by East Midlands Airport.

“We were sorry to learn of the circumstances in which Brandon’s wheelchair was considered too heavy to be loaded onto the aircraft,” a spokesperson said.

“Having supported Brandon and his companion to the aircraft in one of our specially-adapted vehicles, we were made aware of the handling agent’s decision not to accept his wheelchair.

“When a solution could not be found, we escorted him back to the terminal and we understand he was able to re-book a flight the following day.”

Meanwhile, Ryanair revealed that the issue has been “liaised with this customer directly and this has been resolved.”

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