Ryanair charged distraught surgeon £160 to change his flight home - after learning his entire family had died in a house fire

Dr Muhammad Taufiq Sattar had a flight booked from Dublin to Leicester

He tried to change flight after police said his family may have died in a fire

But Ryanair insisted on charging him £158 to get on an earlier flight

His wife Shehnila Taufiq, 47, and her children Jamal, 15, Bilal, 17, and Zainab,19, had been killed in a house fire last Friday



Ryanair offered its sincere condolences and a full refund to Dr Sattar



A teenager has been charged with murder in relation to the deaths

Shocked: Dr Taufig Sattar was charged nearly £160 by Ryanair to change his flight after being told his family may have died in a fire

Surgeon Muhammad Taufiq Sattar had to pay nearly £160 to change his regular evening Ryanair flight to the UK to an earlier one moments after he was told it was likely his family were dead.



The 52-year-old flew over to see his family in Leicester almost every week and had his return ticket booked to travel last Friday as usual.



But after being woken and told at 3am last Friday that his family’s house was on fire, he immediately changed his plans deciding he needed to get over to the UK as soon as possible.



Arriving in Dublin Airport at around 5.30am, and just moments after Leicester Police had confirmed by phone that no member of his family had managed to escape the blaze, he approached the Ryanair check-in desk to see if he could change his ticket.



Distraught, and with tears streaming down his face, he explained why he had to change his flight from 9.40pm to East Midlands Airport in Leicester later in the day so he could catch the 6.30am flight to Birmingham instead. But he was told he would have to buy a new ticket.



The stunned neurosurgeon produced his credit card and was promptly charged €187.46 - approximately £158 - for a one-way ticket to Birmingham.



In his first interview since returning to his west Dublin home in Castleknock on Wednesday night, he told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘I don’t want to make a big deal about it but it did shock me. I really did not expect them to charge me.



‘I thought, given the circumstances, they might just let me transfer flights, as I had already paid for a return fare.’



Last night, Ryanair issued a brief statement after receiving questions about the matter from the Irish Daily Mail.

Tragedy: Bilal Taufiq Sattar (left) and his brother Jamal (right) bothdied with their mother Shehnila in the Leicester house fire in the early hours last Friday



In a statement, the airline said: ‘Ryanair offers its sincere condolences to Dr Sattar and confirmed that in the circumstances it will provide a full refund of any monies paid last Friday.’

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary confirmed a letter of condolence had been sent to Dr Al Sattar, along with a an apology for the way the budget airline had handled the situation.



'I think you have to make exceptions in cases like that and we made an exception last night when we became aware of it,' Mr O’Leary said.

'We want to respond sensitively to these cases.'

Mr O’Leary added Dr Al Sattar had been refunded the extra charge and said that the booking change was handled according to the airline’s policy, which staff are told to implement without exception or variation.



Dr Taufiq Sattar welcomed news last night a teenager has been charged with four counts of murder in relation to the deaths of his family.



Leicester Police announced last night that there was ‘sufficient evidence’ to charge the 18-year-old male and that it was ‘in the public interest for a prosecution to take place’.



The accused is expected to appear at Leicester Magistrates’ Court today.



The charges against him follow the arrest of six people in connection with the fire at Dr Taufiq’s home in Leicester last Friday morning.



All but one of the six had been previously released without charge.

Police and firefighters were called to the building in the Spinney Hills area of Leicester at about 12.35am on Friday last week. A teenager has been arrested in connection with the fire



Shehnila Taufiq, 47, daughter Zainab, 19, and sons Bilal, 17, and Jamal, 15, all tragically perished in the blaze, which started around 12.30am.



Although 52-year-old Dr Taufiq Sattar lives in Dublin, he visited his family three Fridays in every month.



They had moved to Leicester five years ago to complete Islamic studies.



But they had been due to all return to Ireland in the next few months to teach at a new Islamic education centre he purchased recently.



Dr Sattar said: ‘I do not want to make any comment whatsoever about the investigation.



‘But I am very happy that there has been a major development and I hope that this means I might be able to have my family’s bodies returned to me for burial.’



Steve Chappell, Chief Crown Prosecutor at Crown Prosecution Service East Midlands said: 'The evidence has been reviewed by a Crown Advocate from the CPS East Midlands Complex Casework Unit, who has decided that there is sufficient evidence to charge and that it is in the public interest for a prosecution to take place.’