Edinburgh crime: Plane passenger told staff at Edinburgh Airport to 'f*** off' after her flight was cancelled

Computer specialist fined for outburst

An angry plane passenger told airline staff to “f*** off” and gave them the middle finger during a shocking outburst at Edinburgh Airport.

Raza Anum became enraged after her flight to London had been delayed for more than six hours and she could not book herself onto a later flight. The computer specialist confronted Ryanair staff before telling them to “f*** off” and making the obscene gesture when she was told they could not help her.

Computer specialist Raza Anum was fined at Edinburgh Sheriff Court over her outburst at Edinburgh Airport

Police were contacted and the 39-year-old was arrested and charged following the incident at the Capital airport in September last year.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told Anum, who works as a cyber security cloud engineer, approached the airport’s Gate 21 as passengers were boarding for a flight to London Stansted. She approached the Ryanair desk at around 1.30pm and began asking staff about her own flight to Stansted which had been delayed at 6.15am that morning.

Anum was asking to swap her ticket for the later flight but staff said she they could not help her and she needed to contact Ryanair directly to arrange any exchange. The court was told she became “upset and she started banging her hand and her phone on the desk and was shouting” at the stunned staff.

Anum then turned and walked away from the desk and “gestured with her middle finger and stated f*** you” to the airline employees.

Lawyer Kenneth Woodburn, defending, told the court his client “apologises for her behaviour” but she was attempting to get home to London as she had a medical scan booked for that day. Mr Woodburn added: “She finds herself embarrassed having to attend court and the conviction will have a knock-on effect with regards to her work.

“She had been on holiday and she was due to go back to London to have a medical scan and her frustration was born out of the fact the plane was delayed. She should not have acted in that manner but she did and she apologises to the staff for that.”

Sheriff Wendy Sheehan said: “I am going to draw a line under this today and I am going to impose a fine.” She sentenced Anum to pay a fine of £470 to mark the offence.

Anum, of Mill Hill, London, pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and acting in an aggressive manner at Edinburgh Airport on September 18 last year. She also had a not guilty plea accepted by the Crown to a charge of entering an unrestricted area at the airport without lawful authority on the same date.