A leading disability group has called for a boycott of Ryanair after some partially sighted passengers were ejected from a flight. The budget airline has also had its nomination for a prestigious disability-friendly award withdrawn by two more disabled charities following the incident.

The group of nine blind and partially sighted people, from Norwich, had boarded a plane at Stansted en route to Italy last month but were told to get off because the flight was over its quota for disabled people. Since the incident became public this week, disabled groups have hit back twice.

Firstly, the charity Scope urged disabled and non-disabled people to blacklist the airline. Secondly, the panel of judges behind the Deafblind Friendly Corporate Awards decided to withdraw the company’s nomination for a prize.

The airline was down to the last three in the travel and transport category of the awards, which are organised by the charities Sense and Deafblind UK and are due to be presented later this month. Ryanair had been nominated by a disabled couple who said they received excellent service while flying with the company.

But Steve Sloan, director of development at Deafblind UK, said: “Ryanair’s nomination precedes recent events. The judging panel of the Deafblind Friendly Corporate Awards have reviewed their position. “The nominee’s citation shows that when they set their mind to it, Ryanair are clearly capable of offering the highest standards of service to deafblind people.

“At Deafblind UK we believe that access to good service for deafblind people should be consistent and in the light of recent events Ryanair could benefit by reviewing the consistent application of their policy.” Sue Brown, head of campaigns and policy at Sense, said: “Ryanair had received a nomination from the Deafblind Friendly Awards for the exemplary treatment they gave a deafblind customer who used a particular service.

“While Ryanair have demonstrated that they are capable of delivering excellent customer service to deafblind people at a local level this good practice needs to be seen across the organisation as a whole. “In the light of recent developments the judging panel behind the Deafblind Friendly Corporate Awards have now decided to withdraw this nomination.” Last year, Ryanair was ordered to compensate a passenger with cerebral palsy who was charged to use a wheelchair.

Bob Ross, of north London, was awarded more than £1,300 after he challenged an £18 charge. Ryanair has said it has a quota of four disabled people on flights for safety reasons and believed that its policy was in line with other airlines.

A spokeswoman said the airline would not be commenting on the call for a boycott or the withdrawal of the award nomination but insisted the quota system would stay.

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