A prize-winning author has said she was left feeling “numb” after being stopped from flying home to the UK from Brussels.
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, 53, who was born in Uganda and has British citizenship, said she was blocked from checking in by a Ryanair employee in Brussels who took issue with her travel documents.
The author, who is also a university lecturer, has lived in the UK for 21 years and was returning from a literary festival when the incident happened.
Ms Makumbi was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2012 and was travelling on her Ugandan passport with her biometric residence permit.
She said her indefinite leave to remain card had an expiry date, which was April this year, but due to her having indefinite leave to remain the date is not relevant.
“I tried to explain to this guy, but he just did not even look at me or give me a moment to explain. He just said we’re not going anywhere," she told The Guardian newspaper.
“I explained to them that I’m a British citizen but they were not having it."
The author, who won the Windham-Campbell literature prize in 2018 and in 2014 the Commonwealth short story prize, contacted the UK embassy in Belgium, who helped her to return home on the Eurostar instead.
Her colleague Gary Younge, a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester, described the incident as "shocking".
"Shocked to hear that award-winning writer and British citizen Jennifer Makumbi has been barred from boarding a @Ryanair flight to Manchester from Brussels without any explanation," he tweeted.
"Jennifer, who’s been in England for over 20 years and married to a Brit for over a decade, is a lecturer at Lancaster University.
"It shouldn’t happen to anyone, regardless of credentials. The fact it has happened to her shows just how fragile our rights are. It’s like Windrush in reverse."
He later tweeted: "Delighted to report that thanks to consular intervention Jennifer Makumbi is on her way home on Eurostar. Still livid that it should have happened at all."
Her publisher Oneworld described her treatment as "shocking".
“You’d think @Ryanair could simply Google a prize-winning author who has lived in the UK for over a decade, completed her MA and PhD in the UK and is now a university lecturer here,” the publisher tweeted.
Ryanair said she was not denied boarding as she never arrived at her gate and her boarding pass was not scanned at the checkpoints.
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Court 1
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Court 2
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The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
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Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
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- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
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