She added: "Mum's really feeling upset and very stressed about this situation, on top of the grief she's already experiencing. As for me, I'm upset about the whole thing too - the fact that the passenger wasn't taken off the plane and how the situation was dealt with."<doc-sep>Customers have threatened to boycott Ryanair after airline staff failed to remove a racially abusive man from a flight. Footage of a white man calling a woman an “ugly black bastard” on the flight from Barcelona to London Stansted has sparked outrage and has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook. The row apparently broke out after the woman was unable to move out of her aisle seat quickly enough to let the man sit down in his window seat. The video, shot by UK resident David Lawrence, shows the man shouting at the woman to move seats, while her daughter tells him her mother is disabled. He replies: “I don’t care whether she’s f****** disabled or not – if I tell her to get out she gets out.” The flight attendant then asks the woman if she would like to move to another seat and the woman tells him she would like to sit near her daughter. The man interjects: “Move her to another seat … I can’t get in while she’s sat there.” The woman responds: “You smell. You need a wash.” Then, the man says: “If you don’t go to another seat, I’ll push you to another seat.” Later in the argument, he says: “Don’t talk to me in a f****** foreign language you stupid ugly cow.” A fellow passenger tries to intervene, asking the man to stop being abusive. But the man says: “I will carry on as far as I can with this ugly black bastard.” ✕ Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The flight attendant says the man is being “super rude” and tells him to calm down, while a number of passengers on the flight call for the man to be removed from the flight. The Ryanair employee tells the man that the airline does not tolerate abusive behaviour and says he will discuss the matter further with his supervisor. However, staff purportedly allowed him to stay on the flight. A number of politicians voiced their concern at Ryanair’s apparent lack of action. Labour MP for East Hull and shadow attorney general Karl Turner tweeted: “He should have been removed from the flight and handed over to the police. “We assume the aircraft was in the UK. If it was he definitely committed criminal offences. I fully expect Ryanair to confirm the situation if in fact it was their flight.” MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde Stuart McMillan posted: “This is really appalling Ryanair. You will know the identity of the man and the level of training given to your staff.” Fellow MSP politician Margaret Ferrier said: “Just watched the shocking footage on a Ryanair aircraft, utterly disgusting. Racist male passenger should have been put off flight before it departed. “Flight attendant incapable of responding appropriately. However well done to passenger with black T-shirt that intervened.” In a later tweet she said the woman had been referred to Ryanair’s customer services, describing the response as “a joke”. “CEO Michael O’Leary should be calling them to apologise profusely for the incompetence of his flight attendant in handling this racial abuse incident properly,” she added. 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The celebration marks the end of the Muslim month of fasting, called Ramadan.<doc-sep>When it comes to aviation, the rules of jurisdiction can be murky. After all, if a passenger gets aggressive while on a flight, whose responsibility are they? The police in the country they’ve flown from? The country they’re flying to? The country they originated from? Or the country the airline is based in? The latest incident on a plane to go viral raised all these questions, as well as prompting shock from viewers around the world. A video filmed onboard a Ryanair flight shows a male passenger racially abusing an elderly black woman, since named as Mrs Gayle, before take-off. It was quickly shared across social media sites, with many condemning the crew’s actions – the woman was moved to another seat while the unidentified man was left in peace. However, it also demonstrated that jurisdiction can be perceived as a grey area. Shadow Transport Minister Karl Turner addressed the issue in a series of tweets over the weekend, saying: “Ryanair’s failure to deplane the alleged racist offender, handing him over to the Spanish authorities probably means that he isn’t now prosecuted. “Unfortunately because Ryanair is registered in Dublin not in the UK the alleged offence could only be tried by UK authorities if it was ‘in flight’ to the UK. Section 92(1) Civil Aviation Act s.92(4) defines ‘in flight’. “If this incident had happened on an alternative airline under ‘British Control’ or it was already ‘in flight’ to the UK the prosecuting authorities could have prosecuted.” ✕ Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The MP quoted the Civil Aviation Act 1982, tweeting: “If airline isn’t registered in UK (Ryanair is registered in Dublin) then aircraft must be ‘in flight’ to the UK for UK Law to apply. It wasn’t in flight. It was sat on the tarmac in Barcelona. Offender should have been handed to police immediately!” Ryanair said it has told Essex Police about the incident, but as the plane was in Barcelona at the time and hadn’t departed, it’s unclear whether they have the power to investigate further or prosecute. So whose problem is it? If the flight has departed According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which oversees and regulates all aspects of aviation in the UK, generally speaking it’s the country where the aircraft is registered that matters. Never mind where the airline is based or where the flight departed from or is heading to – it’s the law of the country where the plane is registered that applies onboard. So, if a crime is committed onboard a UK registered aircraft, it can be investigated by the UK police and prosecuted by the CPS. If the flight has landed Although the above rule still applies, in practice incidents are sometimes dealt with differently. Local police who have been asked by a flight crew to meet an aircraft on arrival after an incident on board can investigate and prosecute if a crime has been committed – regardless of whether the aircraft is registered elsewhere. However, this is at their discretion; if they don’t choose to prosecute then, in theory, police and prosecutors based in the aircraft’s state of registry could take up the case. If the flight hasn’t left yet If something happens while the aircraft is still on the ground with the doors open, the flight has not yet begun. This means law enforcement is still the responsibility of local police. However, if the flight technically has started, ie the doors are closed and the aircraft has pushed back from the stand, it’s a different ball game. This means it’s back to the original rule – it’s the law of the country where the aircraft is registered that applies onboard. In the Ryanair case, therefore, this distinction is important – if the doors were open, the matter should have been referred to Barcelona law enforcement. If they were closed, it’s up to law enforcement in the country where the plane is registered – possibly Ireland in Ryanair’s case – to investigate.<doc-sep>A man who hurled racist abuse at an elderly black woman on a Ryanair flight has been identified, police say. In footage recorded by another passenger, David Lawrence, on the flight from Barcelona to Stansted, a man calls 77-year-old Delsie Gayle, who is disabled, an "ugly f****** c***" and an "ugly black b******". The budget airline reported the matter to Essex Police after video of the row was shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook. On Tuesday, Essex Police said: "We have worked to identify both parties involved in this incident and passed this information to the Spanish authorities, who are leading on this investigation. "Our officers will continue to provide assistance where necessary throughout the course of this case." Advertisement The row took place before take-off on Friday afternoon. At the beginning of the footage, the woman's daughter can be heard telling the man her mother is disabled. He replied: "I don't care whether she's f****** disabled or not - if I tell her to get out she gets out." Image: David Lawrence criticised fellow passengers for failing to help the woman He told staff to move the woman to another seat, adding: "If you don't go to another seat I'll push you to another seat." The man, who has not been named, shouts "don't talk to me in a foreign language you stupid ugly cow". Mr Lawrence criticised fellow passengers for not intervening - though one man on the row behind was trying to stop the man from being abusive. He said: "I looked around to see if there was going to be a response from the public, I didn't hear any. "I saw smirks and giggles going on." He added: "Eventually someone [a crew member] came down and moved the woman from her seat and placed her further back, leaving the man sitting by himself." A Ryanair spokesman told Sky News: "We have reported this to the police in Essex and as this is now a police matter, we cannot comment further."<doc-sep>
(CNN) A spokesperson for Theresa May said the British Prime Minister condemns "abhorrent" racial abuse after a passenger on a European airline made racist remarks about another passenger that were caught on video. The man had threatened to "push" an elderly black woman onto another seat. A crew member of the Ryanair flight from Barcelona, Spain, to London intervened, but the flight took off on Friday with at least one passenger wanting the unidentified man who made the remarks to be booted off the flight. In the footage, a man in a window seat was heard saying he refused to sit next to an elderly woman seated in an aisle seat. The man hurled insults at the woman and called her an "ugly black bastard" before the flight took off, according to a cell phone video recorded by London-based musician David Lawrence. According to the Press Association, May's spokesperson wouldn't comment specifically on the case, but said "when people are traveling and going about their public life, no one should be subjected to intimidation or any form of abuse. "The Prime Minister has always been clear that racial abuse is abhorrent." UK police have appealed for witnesses after the footage was posted by Lawrence on social media Friday. "This incident, which we were made aware of yesterday morning, is believed to have taken place on a plane at Barcelona Airport," said the police force in charge of the region around London Stansted airport, where the flight landed. "Essex Police takes prejudice-based crime seriously and we want all incidents to be reported. We are working closely with Ryanair and the Spanish authorities on the investigation. We would encourage anyone with information to contact us." Lawrence, 56, told CNN in a phone interview Sunday: "When you watch the footage, you'll see it starts to unfold where this man starts a torrent of abuse, absolutely disgusting, despicable words thrown at this elderly black woman" Lawrence said the flight attendant could have called the captain, escorted the man off the flight or called the police. "If that was another situation where that was a black man doing that to an elderly white woman, they would have escorted him off the flight," Lawrence said. "He probably would have ended up in a Spanish jail even today." In a statement Sunday, Ryanair said: "We are aware of this video and have reported this matter to Essex Police." The airline declined to comment further. Statement: We are aware of this video and have reported this matter to Essex Police — Ryanair (@Ryanair) October 21, 2018 Ryanair has received backlash across social media for failing to intervene or remove the man from the plane. Labour MP David Lammy, who represents the Tottenham area of London, called for a boycott of Ryanair "if they think it's OK for a racist man to abuse an elderly black woman and remain on the plane." "It's 63 years since Rosa Parks said 'No' to sitting on the back of the bus and we ain't going back," Lammy wrote. Ok boycott ⁦@Ryanair⁩ if they think it's ok for a racist man to abuse an elderly black woman and remain on the plane. It's 63 years since Rosa Parks said "No " to sitting on the back of the Bus and we ain't going back. https://t.co/IYczabgjMJ — David Lammy (@DavidLammy) October 21, 2018 British broadcaster Jeremy Vine tweeted : 'Ryanair need to explain how this man's disgusting racial abuse ... ends up with HER being asked to move. Beyond belief." Others have called out the passengers onboard for not intervening. Sonya Onwu tweeted: "Ryanair staff moving the victim not only panders to the demands of (a) racist, but lends legitimacy to those demands. The silence from passengers says volumes. We can't rely on anyone to stand up for us. Shame on the bystanders." 'Get away from my seat' Lawrence said he was settling into the flight home from a business trip when he heard the commotion. The woman was sitting two rows behind him on the opposite side of the plane; her daughter was several rows behind her, Lawrence said. "I heard a man's voice behind me, very loud, very aggressive, shout, 'Get away from my seat. Move your feet now. I need to pass,' " Lawrence recalled. "I turned around ... and I saw this man standing over the elderly black woman shouting at her to get out of the way," Lawrence said.