Passengers stage sit in on plane
29.10.11
Around 100 passengers staged a sit-in on a plane at Birmingham Airport last night, refusing to get off for several hours. The Viking Hellas flight was scheduled to take off from Manchester for Athens at 13:00, but passengers were taken by bus to Birmingham and boarded a plane due to leave at 17:00. When they were then told to get off the plane, they refused. At about 01:30 the passengers finally agreed to leave the plane and were taken by bus back to Manchester.
West Midlands Police boarded the plane during the dispute. A police spokesman said: ‘It was a civil dispute and the police were there monitoring the situation to make sure it did not get out of hand.’ He said there had been ‘an issue between the airline and the passengers’.
A passenger told the BBC the flight had been chartered and they were originally due to fly on October 21. She said: ‘We decided to leave the plane because there was no point in staying. We are going home. We have a letter from Viking Hellas and we can get a refund.’
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