Evening Standard/London
Armed police surrounded a group of angry passengers at Heathrow Airport after they staged a revolt after a flight to New York was delayed by ten hours.
Hundreds of passengers were furious when a mechanical fault on a British Airways plane left them stuck at a boarding gate in Terminal 5. When the atmosphere intensified, staff called police and up to ten officers brandishing guns ran in to settle the situation.
Passenger Brenda Baxter, 59, from Nottingham who was travelling to New York with her 26-year-old daughter, told the Mirror: “It was very scary. My first thought was that there had been a terrorist attack.
“It was awful. There was a big crowd up by the desk and people were getting really irate. The next thing, about ten armed police turned up.
“Six of them took up positions behind the desk and others stood amongst the seated passengers. It was very intimidating.”The passengers had been sitting on the plane for three hours before being disembarked as it was taken out of service.
“It was awful. We were told there was a fault with the hydraulics and they switched off the air conditioning,” said Baxter, an art festival organiser.
“Parents were stripping off little kids because it was so hot. A guy next to us was in a bad way. They were using face wipes to cool him down.
“It was only after two hours that they gave us refreshments, water and orange juice.”
Having disembarked, passengers were given food vouchers and told to return to the terminal.
Hopes were momentarily lifted an hour later when an announcement informed that the plane was ready to board.
But further complications meant the plane was cancelled and passengers had to wait until 8pm before take-off.
“There was a big cheer when they said we would be boarding in five minutes. An hour later they said it was all off,” said Baxter.“It was awful. Children were in tears and there was a lot of argument going on.”
A Met Police spokesman said: “Officers were called at 3.30pm to reports of a disturbance in Terminal 5 at Gate 33.
“There were no arrests and officers left the location at approximately 4.20pm. No offences were recorded.”
Armed police at Heathrow.
