Armed police intervene in heated passenger revolt during 10-hour flight delay

A hydraulics fault delayed hundreds of BA 175 flight passengers from flying

Armed police at Heathrow Airport (Armed police)

Hundreds of angry passengers at Heathrow Airport were surrounded by armed police today after some staged a revolt during a 10-hour flight delay yesterday.

A mechanical fault on a British Airways Boeing 747 aircraft bound for New York JFK left them stranded at a boarding gate in Terminal 5

Passengers confronted airport officials demanding answers before police and up to 10 armed officers arrived to settle the situation at around 3.30pm.

Brenda Baxter, 59, from Nottingham who was travelling 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.”

No arrests were made or offences recorded during the hour-long intervention by airport police.

The passengers of flight BA 175 had been sitting on the plane for three hours before being told to disembark as the aircraft was being taken out of service.

British Airways last night launched an investigation into the incident and a Heathrow Airport spokeswoman said they do not comment on security matters.