David Mesher says he lost temper as Delsie Gayle says it will take long time to get over rant

A man who subjected a fellow passenger on a Ryanair flight to a racist tirade has apologised publicly for the first time a week after the incident, claiming that he is not a racist and lost his temper “a bit”.

Delsie Gayle, the woman who David Mesher called an “ugly black bastard”, said that his apology was insufficient and added that it would take a “long time” for her to move on from the incident.

Mesher made his apology for his behaviour, which has since gone viral in a video widely shared on social media, in an interview aired on Friday.

Play Video 1:56 Racist incident filmed on Ryanair flight – video

It came as Ryanair issued a statement claiming it only became aware of the footage late on 20 October, a day after the incident, and had contacted police on 21 October. It said cabin crew at the time had not been aware of racist comments being made.

Mesher, who has been spoken to by police in Birmingham, where he lives, apologised for the first time in the interview, aired a week after the incident.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the dispute began after he asked Gayle to move from her seat but “she didn’t seem to want to get up”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Delsie Gayle, the passenger who was abused by David Mesher on a flight. Photograph: ITV

“I probably lost my temper a bit and ordered her to get up,” he said, adding that he “absolutely” regrets his behaviour.

“I’m not a racist person by any means and it’s just a fit of temper at the time, I think,” he said. “I apologise for all the distress you’ve had there and since.”

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But Gayle and her daughter, Carol Gayle, rejected the apology over the language used on the plane from Barcelona to London on 19 October.

Asked if she accepted the apology, Delsie Gayle said: “I don’t think so. You must forget and forgive but it’s going to take a long time for me to get over what he has done to me.”

Her daughter added: “He says he wasn’t racist. He wouldn’t be saying words like that if he wasn’t racist.”

In a statement posted on Twitter, Ryanair said it had “immediately” reported the video to Essex police in Stansted airport at 9am on Sunday 21 October, after becoming aware of it “late” on the day before. It said it provided police with a copy of the video and details of the two passengers involved.

“These prompt actions disprove the false claims that Ryanair did not respond ‘quickly’ or ‘appropriately’ to this video,” it said.

The airline said its Spanish cabin crew were aware of an argument between two passengers during boarding “but were not aware of, as they were not present when, racists comments were made by the male passenger towards the female passenger”.

It went on to state that the video of the events was not shown to cabin crew until after landing at Stansted, adding: “Ryanair did not become aware of the contents of the video until late on Saturday evening when it gained widespread coverage on social media.”

As cabin crew believed they were dealing with an argument between two passengers, they followed company procedure “to defuse the argument” and separate them by offering to move one to an alternative place. In this case, the company said, the female passenger moved “at her request” and both people confirmed that they were “OK”.

“As far as cabin crew were concerned, that was the end of the matter, and since there was no threat to aircraft safety the issue of offloading one passenger did not arise,” Ryanair said.