Norfolk man Mark Youles takes Ryanair to court after crash

In September last year, an Italian military jet crashed into a passing vehicle, killing a five-year-old girl, and forcing the closure of the Turin airport. 

Following the accident, Mark Youles, a 49-year-old scientist from Dereham and who works at Norwich Research Park, claimed that he did not receive a notification updating him of the airport's closure, or that the flight was scheduled to depart from Milan.

"We only found out on our way to the airport from our taxi driver. But the Ryanair app still said our flight was on time and scheduled to leave from Turin. 

"I then called Ryanair, who only then said our flight was leaving from Milan," he said. 

Mr Youles is seeking compensation for his €260 taxi ride (Image: Mark Youles)

Mr Youles is seeking compensation for his 260-euro taxi ride.

Although he kept all the relevant receipts, Mr Youles faced further difficulties logging his complaint, owing to the complexity of his circumstances.

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He said that one customer service operator "initially just hung up without warning".

"I'm disgusted by how we've been treated when trying to even log our complaints, let alone try obtain our well-justified compensation for a rerouted flight without notification or communication," he said. 

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Mr Youles further stated that he was not the only one to incur costs as a result of the alleged communication error. 

Once they made it to the Milan airport, Mr Youles added that he "heard from another couple who had spent €300 to try make the flight on time".

In an email to Mr Youles, a solicitor representing Ryanair said that the receipts he provided "are not VAT registered and itemized receipts," and therefore, the business was not able to process his reimbursement.

Ryanair has declined to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.