Passenger sues British Airways after made to seat near fat man

British Airways has been sued for £10,000 by an aggrieved passenger, who was reportedly made to sit near a fat man he described as an ‘extremely large man’.

The 51-year-old passenger Stephen Prosser, who claimed that the incident in the 12-hour flight from Bangkok to Heathrow left him with personal injury and loss of earnings, further disclosed that the cabin crew ignored his complaints of getting injured if forced to sit next to the “extremely large” passenger, who he described as being 6ft 4in (1.93 metres) and weighing approximately 22 stone (140kg).

Prosser, who is 1.60 metres (5ft 3in), said: “he was that large that he had to force his buttocks between the arm rests of the seats. He sat with his knees wedged against the seat in front and the rest of his body was overspilling into my seat by some inches.

I was immediately aware that this was going to be problematic for me and I could feel the weight of his pure bulk putting lateral pressure on my upper body. This forced me into a position of unnatural posture.

Due to the size of him when he placed his arm down at times it would rest on my armrest, and he would accidentally turn the volume of my audio up to an extremely loud volume each time” he said.

However British Airways are denying the claims – stating Mr Prosser “did not not display any signs of injury” when leaving the flight. Timothy Salisbury, representing British Airways who claimed the passenger was exaggerating, said;

“You say the man reminded you of the late rugby player Jonah Lomu. Would you say that’s a colourful explanation? An exaggeration?” Prosser replied: “Not at all.”