Derbyshire dad sent the bailiffs to Ryanair - and won

Lucas Marshall, from Chapel-en-le-Frith, was holidaying in Fuerteventura with his family in February last year and had been unable to print the boarding passes before getting to the airport.

The 34-year-old, from Links Road, said: “I was angry and stressed out when I was told I would have to pay £420 to be able to return home - I didn’t have that kind of money and was told I had minutes to make a decision and had to pay on my credit card.”

He was travelling with Ryanair who charged him £70 per person to print off the boarding passes.

Lucas, who owns a landscaping business, said: “I don’t have a smartphone and was unable to print the passes at the hotel, but this was a joke.

“People don’t have the access on holiday to print things off and it is a stupid rule that you can’t get everything ready before you leave - who needs that kind of stress when you are away?”

He was travelling with his wife Michelle, 42, and children, Carly, 16, Lucy, 13, Ellenor, seven and Lewis, four.

“The children were getting annoyed because we had to queue up so many times,” he said.

After thinking he had successfully printed off the passes at the helpdesk he went to check-in, only to find the numbers were not being recognised in the system, so he had to queue again to print them a second time.

It was only after returning home and reflecting on what had happened that he decided to write to the Irish-based airline.

However, no return correspondence was made so he decided to take it to the small claims court and was helped by Buxton County Court.

He needed an English address to pursue a claim, so used the Ryanair address at Stansted.

“To me it is a matter of principle, after spending £2,300 on the holiday they didn’t seem to care about that and treated us horrendously,” he said.

“The system is set up so you fail but I refused to give up as I knew what they had charged me was wrong.”

In December last year bailiffs went to the Ryanair offices and left with £600, which included £280 compensation.

Lucas said: “I am over the moon to have won. The money has only gone to pay off bills, but it was knowing I was right and refusing to be beaten by a flawed system.

“I want people to stand up and say something isn’t right otherwise things like this will just keep happening.”

Ryanair has been approached for a comment but have yet to respond.