British Airways 'lost 13-year-old Russian public school boy on his first unaccompanied flight' - and REFUSES to apologise

Lost boy: Nikolay Gorashenko, 13, had just started school in the UK when he was lost by BA staff

British Airways has been accused of abandoning a 13-year-old passenger, leaving him to wander around an airport alone and without his passport.

Nikolay Gorashenko, a Russian boy who goes to school in Hertfordshire, said goodbye to his parents in Moscow and caught a flight to London.

However, when he landed at Heathrow his guardian, actor Richard Cordery was shocked to find that the youngster had been allowed to walk off the plane by himself, and to roam the airport on his own.

Despite Nikolay being booked on to a £60-a-time Skyflyer Solo chaperone service, his minders at Heathrow did not realise he had gone missing.

Alone in the airport, the lost boy sent confused text messages from the terminal, seeking help.

One message said 'I'm underground and I don't know where to go', with another saying 'I'm lost and I don't have my passport'.

Mr Cordery, 63, rushed to raise the alarm when he realised Nikolay was on his own, but staff unsympathetic brushed him off as a 'teenage tearaway', and said there were so many children on the plane they had no way of keeping track of them.

After 45 minutes, a member of airport staff found Nikolay and brought him through passport control, but Mr Cordery said he was 'terrified' while waiting for him to return, and that the boy 'could have been molested' or abducted by anybody in the airport.

 

It was the boy's first time flying by himself.

British Airways had made an announcement during the flight that all children flying alone should stay on board and wait to be met.

Safe: Nikolay at Heathrow after he had made it through passport control

Nervous: Mr and Mrs Goranshenko, pictured with Nikolay, were nervous about using the accompanied flight service to send their son from Russia to the UK

However, Nikolay followed a group of more confident young travellers off the plane, and when they later disappeared he was left with nowhere to go.

Mr Cordery, who turned to the MailOnline after his complaint to BA hit a dead end, said: 'Nikolay goes to school in England but lives abroad.

'He had started at boarding school this term, and had flown back over the half term to see his parents, who were nervous about him flying alone.'

'I went to the airport on Sunday night and waited until I saw his flight had arrived, and texted him to ask how he was.

'I received a reply which said he would be out in around 20 minutes, but after some time he sent another message asking me which terminal I was at.'

Relief: Nikolay makes his way back to school after his ordeal

'When I realised he was on his own, I told him to find somebody in uniform to look after him'

'I then headed to to the office that deals with the accompanied flights - a tawdry, miserable affair - and told them "There's been a terrible mistake, little Nikolay has got off the plane and there's nobody with him."'

'Then a woman, who I was not talking to at the time, said "Teenage tearaways, what can you do about that?", which I thought was a disgraceful response.

'She asked how old he was and I said he was 13, to which she said "There you are - a teenage tearaway."'

Shocked: Actor Richard Cordery, who is Nikolay's guardian, said he was terrified that something would happen to the boy, and that BA should provide a full refund

Mr Cordery said the staff were unable to find out who had sent whom to collect Nikolay, and they were unaware the teenager had gone missing, until they were told.

After seeing him safely to school, Mr Cordery complained to British Airways, but was passed between call handlers and kept on hold for almost an hour.

Mr Cordery said: 'I told them there had been a terrible breach of security - anybody could have just grabbed him. I was terrified, he could have been molested by somebody.

'I said that they weren't taking this seriously, but I was told that they had "followed the procedures".

'His parents had paid $100 a shot for this service - and how would they feel if something happened?

'The service guarantees that they accompany the child - at no stage are they ever allowed to be on their own.

'I want British Airways to acknowledge what they did and change their procedures so that it doesn't happen to anybody else.

'I also think they should provide a full refund, and something for Nikolay to make it up to him. But after they heard my complaint British Airways said they had "done all that we can"'

Nikolay, the eldest of two children, attends Haileybury School in Hertford, where he was sent for the first time this year by his parents, Sergei and Maria Gorashenko.

Mr Cordery knows Nikolay and his family because his son tutors children abroad.

Foreign children who study in the UK require a family member or friend to be responsible for them while they study, a role which he agreed to fulfill for Nikolay.

Mr Cordery is also a well-known actor, who has recently appeared in About Time as Uncle Desmond, Les Misérables as the Duc De Raguse, and also featured in the 100th episode of Midsomer Murders.

A BA spokesman said staff were looking into the claims made by Mr Cordery.

'We treat matters of this nature extremely seriously, and we are currently investigating the claim.'