Ryanair guilty of misleading customers

BUDGET airline Ryanair has been convicted of misleading customers over the price of flights advertised on its website.

A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found the airline guilty of six breaches of the Consumer Protection Act for failing to spell out the full cost of flights from Stansted to various European destinations.

Prices on its website are advertised with the cost of taxes and insurance stripped out.

The prosecution was brought by Trading Standards, which was instrumental in forcing airlines to include taxes and charges in all external advertising last year.

Ryanair pleaded not guilty and said prices were not misleading because customers were told the fare did not include taxes.

Trading standards officer Bruce Treloar said: 'Ryanair has been getting away with misleading consumers for too long by stripping out costs that consumers have to pay.'

He added that Trading Standards would seek the support of the Office of Fair Trading to take further action against Ryanair if it refused to change its online adverts.

This is the latest in a series of court defeats for the airline. In December, it was ordered to pay damages, along with airport operator BAA, to a disabled passenger who was charged £36 for the use of a wheelchair.

The airline was fell foul of of the European Commission for receiving €4m in illegal subsidies to fly to Brussels Charleroi airport.

However, in a separate case yesterday it was cleared of misleading consumers about the cost of flights on former rival airline Buzz. Ryanair competed with Buzz on flights to mainland Europe before eventually purchasing the airline in 2003.

Sentence has yet to be passed as a result of today's verdict.