A BUDGET airline flight took off despite the fact that one of its passengers was having a stroke.

Keith Tarry’s family, who live in Lancing, went to meet him as he arrived at Southend Airport.

But they quickly realised something was wrong when, after a long delay, they saw him being pushed through arrivals in a wheelchair by special assistance, unable to stand or speak.

The 88-year-old did not usually need a wheelchair.

Mr Tarry had suffered a stroke while on board the easyJet flight from Majorca but cabin crew, who are all trained to recognise symptoms, just told other passengers to “keep an eye on him”.

After the incident, which happened on April 14, 2017, he was confined to a nursing home in Worthing.

He remained there until his death last month, caused by an unrelated aneurysm.

Mr Tarry lived in Spain but he and his wife Angela decided he should visit his family in Sussex for Easter after he told her he had been feeling unwell.

Planning to make the journey alone, he was dropped off at the airport by a friend and checked in without a problem.

His daughter arranged for members of special assistance to take him to the gate as there could be a long distance to walk. He was met at security where he said goodbye to his friend.

But, an investigation found that as he arrived at the aircraft, Mr Tarry was unresponsive.

A concerned flight attendant asked surrounding passengers to “keep an eye on him” and also took him a glass of water, but none of this was drunk.

After the flight, which takes more than two hours 20 minutes, touched down in England, special assistance boarded the plane, moved Mr Tarry into a wheelchair and took him to meet his daughters in arrivals.

At no point was medical assistance called.

When they saw him, his shocked daughters quickly called an ambulance and he was rushed to Southend University Hospital where it was found he had been suffering from a stroke.

But, due to the amount of time that had passed since the initial symptoms, it was not possible to intervene.

Following the incident, Mr Tarry was unable to return to his home in Majorca.

Mr Tarry’s family demanded easyJet investigate the incident and also brought legal proceedings against the airline, saying that medical assistance should have been sought before the plane left the airport and that “with timely medical intervention Mr Tarry would have made a much better recovery from his stroke”.

The case was settled for £165,000 and approved by the High Court on June 25.

Ben Davey, of Dean Wilson Solicitors in Brighton, who brought the claim, said: “All crew members of an aircraft are trained in first aid, including to recognise the signs of stroke.

“There have been well publicised FAST (face, arms, speech, time) campaigns stressing the importance of timely medical intervention in respect to strokes and it was a real shame that this did not happen with Mr Tarry.

“I am pleased that, after more than two years of fighting for their father, the family finally has some closure over the matter. I hope that easyJet have reflected on the incident and have taken appropriate steps to ensure that this never happens again.”

A spokesman for the airline said: “We at easyJet are very sorry that we did not reach the standards expected of us on this occasion.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our highest priority and we have learnt lessons from this.”