Telephonist settles airport bomb hoax case for €15,000

An Aer Rianta telephonist suffered posttraumatic stress disorder, nightmares and flashbacks, her hair began to fall out and she stayed in bed for 1½ years just days after she took a phone call claiming there was a bomb at Dublin airport, which turned out to be a hoax, the High Court was told yesterday.

Caroline Lynch later yesterday settled her action for damages of €15,000.

Her counsel told the court that "a gentleman with a foreign accent" had made the hoax call and Ms Lynch had associated the voice "with an Afghanistan background - an Osama Bin Laden-type background ".

Ms Lynch (41), of Maolbuille Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, told the court that after she received the early morning call at Dublin airport she was upset, her mouth later came out in ulcers, her stomach was "in bits" and she stayed in bed for 1½ years.

After Ms Lynch had begun giving evidence yesterday in her proceedings against Aer Rianta, there were talks between the sides and Mr Justice Vivion Lavan was later told the action was settled.

There was no public confirmation of the sum involved but sources indicated the settlement was in the region of €15,000.

The court heard that, half an hour after the phone call was received in 2002, it was deemed to be a hoax.

In its defence, Aer Rianta had denied it failed to provide adequate supports to Ms Lynch or that she suffered the injuries alleged.

Opening the case, Pádraig McCartan SC, for Ms Lynch, said she had worked with Aer Rianta since 1984 and had "to fight" to get the telephonist's job.

On April 28th, 2002, while she was on duty at 3.30am, she got a call saying there was a bomb in the building. This was just a short time after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, counsel said.

Ms Lynch had phoned the airport police and the airport duty officer. However, counsel said, Ms Lynch was left alone and she felt unsafe and concerned.

At 5.30am two airport police came to her when she was in "a fair state of terror and nervous shock".

Counsel said she had wanted to go home immediately but had stayed until her shift finished at 8am and she had carried out the necessary paperwork surrounding the call.

In the days that followed, she "fell asunder completely", mouth ulcers developed and her hair began to fall out.

Ms Lynch was told by a person in Aer Rianta, who was not a doctor, that she was not suffering post-traumatic stress "because she did not see any dead bodies", counsel said. He said Ms Lynch had no training to deal with calls such as the one she received, was never debriefed, was left on her own and suffered appalling symptoms immediately.

While it was a hoax call, it had a devastating effect on Ms Lynch, counsel said. She had fought tooth and nail for the job but could not go back to it.

In her evidence, Ms Lynch said she had spent 20 years trying to get the telephonist job and the hoax call came after two years in the job. She had answered saying: "Good morning, Dublin airport, can I help you?" A voice, "in a Bin Laden accent," said: "There is a bomb in your airport." The call lasted a second.

Ms Lynch said she was nervous but proceeded as trained. She felt she was sitting on this bomb but she would not run and felt it was her duty to stay at her station.

Half an hour later, the operations room rang back to say it was a hoax. However, as the night went on, she became frightened and by the time two airport police came to her, she was really shook up. Another person had told her the bomb did not go off and there was "no big deal".

When she got home, she was very nervous and could see mice running around the floor, even though there were not any mice.

She felt she had to go in to work the next day but felt vulnerable and jumped in her seat any time a male voice came on the phone. "I was at the end of my tether at the end of the shift and my stomach was in bits," she said.

She later went to her GP and was referred to a psychotherapist. "I never slept. I was in bed a year and a half. The two discs collapsed in my back a month after the call. I had lost four stone in weight and put it back on. I was in bed all the time.

"I was distressed and upset for my two children to see me like this," she said.

In July 2002, she took an overdose of pills but would not go to hospital and slept it off.