A FATHER from Poole has accused Ryanair of “lacking compassion” after it refused to cancel his flights following a family bereavement.

Tony Broom, 39, was left almost £400 out of pocket after the budget airline company refused to refund the booking for himself, his wife Justyna and their three children to see her father in Poland at the end of October. Sadly Justyna's dad lost his fight with cancer at the end of August.

Mr Broom, an engineer from Parkstone, tried to change the tickets so they could fly out for the funeral, but it would have cost an additional £1,280, so they decided to drive instead.

With no further reason to take the family over to Poland he wanted to cancel the Ryanair seats - and produced a copy of the death certificate as advised.

But the budget airline company refused his request for a refund as the death had occurred more than 28 days prior to the date of the flight. The family didn't use the flights.

Mr Broom told the Echo he couldn't understand why Ryanair had been so inflexible. He said: "They would have had six weeks to refill those seats but they chose not to. Iit doesn't seem very compassionate - it doesn't seem right to me.”

After months trying to get the company to see sense, but it was only after he contacted the Echo that he was finally given a 'credit' for £340 - which doesn't cover the cost of airport parking which is handled through another company.

“I've still got to fly with Ryanair, which after what's gone on I'm reluctant to do. I was hoping offer something more - but looks like it's not going to get any better than that,” he added.

“To me this doesn't make any sense - they flew to Poland with our five empty seats and now they've refunded us. It could have been resolved two months ago without all this agro.”

A spokesman for Ryanair said: “As stated in our terms and conditions of travel, customers who are affected by a bereavement of an immediate family member within 28 days of their intended date of travel will be provided with a full refund upon application. We convey our sincere condolences to Mr Broom and his family and have resolved this matter directly with the customer.”