‘Drunk’ BA pilot arrested at Gatwick
A British Airways pilot was removed from an aircraft at Gatwick after cabin crew suspected he was drunk.
According to witnesses, armed police boarded the Boeing 777, which was about to leave for Mauritius on Thursday evening.
Reports said cabin crew had called police after allegedly smelling alcohol on the pilot’s breath.
Sussex Police said a 49-year-old man from Harmondsworth, Hillingdon, was ‘arrested on suspicion of performing an aviation function while his alcohol level was over the prescribed limit’.
BA apologised for a two-hour delay and said it was treating the matter extremely seriously.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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