A man who was forced to sit next to a passenger “the size of Jonah Lomu” on a British Airways flight is today taking his case to the Court of Appeal.
Stephen Prosser, 51, claimed that sitting next to an obese man on a 12-hour flight caused him personal injury and subsequent loss of earnings.
He alleged that being “forced into a position of unnatural posture” throughout the journey from Bangkok to London Heathrow in 2016 left him with back problems that meant he was unable to work overtime for three months.
The continual back spasm also left Prosser lacking energy, he claimed, which affected his relationship with his partner and forced him to give up mountain biking.
The self-employed civil engineer from south Wales took BA to court in November, suing for damages of up to £10,000.
However, his case was dismissed by a Wales county court judge, who accused him of creating an “exaggerated picture rather than a genuine account”.
Pontypridd County Court district judge Andrew Barcello said in his ruling: “I accept that the passenger in seat 37J was a large man, both in the sense that he was very tall, broad, and carried significant body weight.
“It is likely that there were occasions when, as a result of his size or his movements within his chair, that he did cause an inconvenience to Mr Prosser.
”But I do not accept the suggestion that his size was such that Mr Prosser was compelled to sit in an awkward way for the duration of the flight by virtue of him encroaching upon his seating area.“
Although Prosser claimed the passenger was 6ft 4in and weighed approximately 22 stone, Chris McLindon, the customer service manager onboard the service, said in a witness statement that he didn’t appear to be suffering and was asleep at times during the flight.
Prosser’s lawyers will attempt to overturn the judgement at today’s hearing.
