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A MAN HAS been tasered on a plane ahead of a Belfast-bound flight from London – reportedly because he wanted to bring on two pieces of hand luggage.
Police boarded the plane at around 8am after reports a passenger had become abusive.
He was later taken into custody.
A number of passengers posted updates on the incident on Twitter as it developed – reporting that the man had been tasered.
“A man is in police custody after being tasered on an aircraft waiting to depart from Gatwick Airport to Belfast,” Sussex Police said.
“Police officers were called to the EasyJet flight shortly after 8am to reports of a passenger who was becoming increasingly abusive following a dispute over luggage.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of breach of the peace. The aircraft has been disembarked and police are taking statements from witnesses among the crew and passengers.
Easyjet confirmed the incident, adding:
“EasyJet’s cabin crew are highly trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.
Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously, do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board, and always push for prosecution.
Passengers were taken off the plane as the issue was dealt with. They were eventually let back on, and the service continued on to Belfast.
Speaking to BBC Northern Ireland after the plane landed, one passenger said that the man had had a “fall out” with airline staff “because they tried to get him to put a bag in a bag”.
“He was a bit upset because of that,” he said.
“And then there were police on the plane. And then there were a few more police on the plane and then there were a lot of police on the plane.
“Then we all got told to get off the plane and then we were waiting for a couple of hours and we got back on the plane and now we’re here.”
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He deserves to be tasered just for carrying a man bag.
His balls were probably in it.
A ballbag.
Along with his dignity sonny
Why are women allowed to carry their handbags on but men can’t?
You try take her handbag. That’s why.
women aren’t allowed a handbag on easyjet as a second carry on unless they have chosen a flight option above the standard cheapest option. otherwise it has to go into your carry on like it used to be on ryanair.
why does absolutely every single news story on this have to have multiple screen grabs of mundane tweets. can a news item not just be reported on by a journalist doing some journalism and not f***kin Twitter muck
Some of those are eyewitness reports from people at the scene. Before Twitter, journalists used to have to lease a time a machine at huge expense to witness an incident like this. That’s why broadsheet newspapers are so expensive.
Worth a Tazering rather than pay those Sleezyjey theives another €40 a bag.
The poor guy was in a hurry to get to Ireland? WTF most Irish people are in a hurry to get out of Ireland.
@Shane
Really ?… & missing your flight, charges & costs to follow & probably going to end up on the no flight list as well…
A “man bag” I despair for humanity.
Yes, men carrying convenient bags to keep their stuff in when travelling is one of the nine horseman of the apocalypse.
Good thing it wasn’t with Ryanair, they probably would kicked him out in mid flight
& charged for the parachute.
Or you know, he would have been fine with Ryanair, considering they allow two cabin bags.
Seriously, why we insist on slagging off an Irish airline that has become the envy of many other airlines is beyond me.
Haven’t been on a Ryanair flight in a while then Jimmy?
Blast from a taser – €12.
Priority tasering – €35.
Wow… Do you really think they would have kicked him out mid flight???……you can’t have been on many flights!
And you obviously don’t get out much at all
Disruptive passengers are kicked out mid flight all the time, all the airlines do it.
Brilliant!
the tas
I’m very confused. Can someone tell me if my understanding of the events is correct? The ground staff had no problem with him boarding the plane with 2 bags. On board a problem broke out between him and the cabin crew re the 2 bags, the police boarded the plane, tasered him and removed all the passengers from the plane. Seems a bit mad.
I would imagine he ‘kicked off’ with cabin crew and did the same with the feds when they arrived.
Easyjet allow only one cabin bag. Ryanair had something similar for ages, but now allow two bags.
Tasered in the man bag…sounds painful
That’s what I read at first ! Passenger tasered in man – purse. ..That’s gotta hurt…lol.
give it back my lippys in it
Whatever the reason or policy… seems to me just some common sense would have helped here and not caused delays etc. EasyJet trying to prove a point? So silly!
On the Independent website they claim the main said he racially motivated therefor that would warrant been tasered
Racially motivated- Now you know why he was so determined to get to Ireland.
I want to know what’s in that bag?
Pity they couldn’t find a passenger other than they guy who spoke “to BBC Northern Ireland after the plane landed”. You know, someone that could have provided a bit of useful information.
Bit more reliable than that eejit who tweeted a picture of the departure lounge.
Aircraft are such a hypertense environment now that a simple costumer dispute can easily escalate to a major security incident. It’s like a small self contained ultra police state where minor infringements result in radical action.
My girlfriend an I were on an easy jet flight to London recently. She had a handbag and a small suitcase. No issues. There is a LOT more to this story methinks.
Man bags. Very popular . Use to be called a beer belly but were so p. c these days. So man bag it is so !
There’s a rumour it was BA from the a team – “he ain’t gettin on no plane”
A tall glass of milk would have solved the situation
Everyone should be aware of the airline terms and conditions prior to booking their ticket, you have to tick a box agreeing to abide by their rules, easyjet have a one bag in the cabin rule, this guy could easily have put his man bag into his other bag if he was a reasonable person. I would have been well peed off if I was one of the other passengers delayed because some tool wanted to carry his stupid man bag separate to his other bag, jeez, what is this world coming to when we now have a male plane passenger causing police to taser him over something that could so easily have been sorted if this dumb passenger wasn’t such a drama queen.
Up the Banner.
Was he a Catholic bollox or a Protestant bollox? At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.
Now, I’m going to go out on a limb here….and hopefully someone will confirm or deny it..but I’m betting he comes from a country that sounds like …. Nighjeerieyah….
Passenger Niall Copeland (29) said the African man appeared insistent on wearing a “man purse” over his shoulder and seemed to suggest the dispute was racially motivated.
is it cause I is… aggghh zzzzzzzzzzzz!
IT’S NOT A MAN BAG!! It’s a satchel… [quote]
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