A WORCESTERSHIRE entrepreneur who took relationships to new heights has lost thousands of pounds after his business was grounded because of health and safety.

Mike Crisp, of Hartlebury, near Stourport-on-Severn, started Mile High Flights with his friend pilot Tom Hanks in 2007 to give couples the chance to join the notorious mile-high club in the privacy of a six-seater plane.

But the company has been unable to renew its licence after health and safety executives at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) claimed the “in-flight entertainment” could be “too distracting” for pilots.

Mr Crisp, aged 36, said the move had lost him a few thousand pounds after he lost out on 20 flights – each flight costing between £650 and £1,000.

He said: “It’s hugely disappointing. I have invested so much money and time in the business.

“To say it was OK two years ago and not now when nothing has changed is very annoying and frustrating.”

But Mr Crisp said he is hoping to work with the CAA to alleviate any safety fears that it has and restart flights from the company’s base at Gloucestershire Airport.

He said: “At the moment it’s a case of trying to keep the pressure on the aviation authority. It has made its decision but we want it to work with us to overcome what safety fears it has.

“We’re a viable business and it just seems unfair.”

A spokesman for the CAA said: “It is important to stress that Mile High Flights never had a licence to operate flights, therefore there was not a licence to remove.

“Mile High Flights looked to another commercial aircraft operator at Gloucester Airport to operate its flights on its behalf.

“This operator had an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) licence issued by the CAA. It was inspected by the CAA to see if current operations were suitable to undertake these new flights on behalf of Mile High Flights.

“A number of safety concerns were raised and the AOC holder withdrew its application to the CAA to undertake operations on behalf of Mile High Flights.”