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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Kris Gourlay & Lee Dalgetty

Edinburgh Ryanair flyer thrown off flight after 'one drink' claim and 'darling' jibe

A man on an Edinburgh-bound flight was ushered off the plane in front of stunned fellow passengers.

A video captured on the flight, which left Riga on Saturday evening, shows stewards on the plane asking the man to stand up - which he isn't too keen on. He attempts to convince the air hostess that he isn't drunk, and has had - at most, "one champagne".

Ryanair staff aren't convinced and continue to ask the man to vacate the plane. After a security guard gets involved, he admits defeat and starts to gather his belongings.

READ MORE - Edinburgh diner at New Town restaurant overhears 'rude comment' made by staff about them

In the footage, the man can be heard saying: "I'm not drinking. Maybe one. Maybe a champagne. This isn't drinking, my English is very bad."

After being told to take his bag and go, the man seems to oblige and packs up his belongings. Responding to security who are ushering him out, he says: "You don't need to rush me, I understand. I'm standing up."

One concerned passenger who filmed the ordeal reported hearing a 'smash' when they first boarded the aircraft and suspected the man may have started drinking his duty free alcohol.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live, she added: "Once everyone got on the plane, one of the flight stewardesses brought the man to the front of the plane and asked him how much he had had to drink. At first he pretended not to speak any English.

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"The stewardess then said he had to get off the flight. Then he said ‘okay I understand, I only had one cocktail and some champagne’. Then she said that he would still have to get off the flight. He then put his bag down and sat down in an empty seat at the front and just kept repeating ‘listen darling I not done nothing bad, I only have one, one is not drinking’.

"Then a woman came down who spoke his language and English and she translated between them. I’m not sure if it was Latvian or Russian they were speaking. He said he has family in Glasgow waiting for him that he needs to get to and the female security said but that’s the case with everyone on the plane."

The passenger added that the man was not taking no for an answer and insisted that he had done nothing wrong. Security soon showed up and once again told the man to get his bag and go, to which he eventually obliged.

The passenger continued: "The stewardess then said it was not her decision, someone else had told her this man cannot fly on this flight because if we were to find ourselves in trouble he would not be in a position to take care of himself.

"The man just kept repeating ‘listen darling I only have one, one is not drinking’. A security man then came on board and just said ‘take your bag and go!’ And the man then said ‘okay I understand’ Then he went to ask something but the man shouted ‘take your bag and go!’ So the man took his bag and got off the flight."

A Ryanair spokesperson said: "A disruptive passenger was removed from a Riga to Edinburgh flight (04 Feb) ahead of take-off."

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