Scot 'racially abused by BA pilots'

Published on Thursday 11 June 2009 22:03

A SCOTTISH pilot was victimised by his colleagues after he exposed the "canteen culture of racism" at the airline, a tribunal has heard.

Douglas Maughan, 54, a British Airways captain, had publicly revealed how he was allegedly subjected to racist abuse by colleagues – including being told that "jocks" should "f*** off to the welfare state paid for by the English". Other pilots had ranted about black people and Asians.

An employment tribunal heard that a senior pilot had made a racist comment about the OJ Simpson trial in a formal presentation.

Captain Maughan, whose wife is Asian, said he took offence to the comments and the "institutional racism". He complained to BA bosses, including chief executive Willie Walsh, but nothing was done to stop it, he said.

The pilot decided to speak out about racism among the airline's pilots in a newspaper article last April.

After it was published, he received abusive calls and messages from colleagues, to such an extent that managers stepped in to warn pilots they would be disciplined if the abuse continued, the tribunal in Watford heard yesterday.

A few weeks later a pilot trainer, Captain Adrian South, deliberately marked him down in a regular flying assessment out of retaliation for the article, Capt Maughan claimed.

Capt Maughan told the panel that the assessor's report had not been "fair and reasonable", adding: "I would expect everyone to behave professionally, whatever their differences of opinion outside the cockpit."

He said he believed Capt South had deliberately marked him down because of the newspaper article and complained to bosses about him, but his grievance was dismissed.

The pilot, who lives in Edinburgh, has 29 years' flying experience, including 16 at BA, and currently flies to long-haul destinations.

He said he had complained to bosses about racism at the airline in a string of incidents dating back to 1995, but he was not taken seriously.

Capt Maughan is suing the airline claiming victimisation on racial grounds. Three related claims were struck out at an earlier hearing.

BA denies discriminating against the pilot, and the hearing continues.