Droitwich teen sparks holiday jet panic

11:01am Friday 10th August 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Elizabeth Sweetman, @lizsweetmanWN #worcsnews

Teen sparks holiday jet panic Teen sparks holiday jet panic

A HOLIDAY jet was delayed for more than four hours after a Droitwich teenager sparked panic among the passengers.

There were dramatic scenes at Palma airport in Majorca when the 17-year-old reportedly became aggressive on a Monarch flight preparing to set off for Birmingham International.

At one point a passenger grappled with the teenager and eventually he was taken off by police and the 200 passengers forced to disembark and wait before the flight could leave.

But the teenager has denied national news reports that he was ‘high on drugs’ and has told friends through Facebook that the whole thing started off because he panicked that he was on the wrong plane (read his defence below).

A spokesman for Monarch confirmed that the flight from Palma last Friday was delayed for four hours and 20 minutes due to a “disruptive passenger”.

The youth, a former Worcester Sixth Form student who we are not naming, told his friends on Facebook that the situation has been “blown out of proportion”.

“I booked a flight to come home with Monarch and the plane I got on was called Airline Explore, so as I was sitting on the plane I thought to myself, ‘This can’t be right, I’ve got on the wrong plane’. I started to panic as I was in a foreign country with no money left and on my own so I asked to get off, they wouldn’t let me so I obviously started panicking even more.”

“Out of nowhere a passenger grabbed my neck and threw me to the floor so I kicked off.

“By this stage people on the plane started panicking and more people started getting involved.”

Addressing claims that he was on drugs and had got on the plane straight from a nightclub, he said: “I came from my hotel after being asleep. Think about it – would I really take my suitcase out clubbing with me?

“They drug tested me and I had no symptoms.”

The teenager said that all charges had since been dropped against him.

The Monarch spokesman said: “Monarch confirms that flight ZB979, flying from Majorca to Birming-ham on Friday, August 3, was delayed in Palma Airport due to a disruptive passenger.

“Due to an incident onboard, the decision was taken, in the interests of passenger safety, to remove a passenger from the aircraft and the police were called to assist.

“Monarch has a zero tolerance approach to disruptive passengers on board.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it was aware of an incident.

 

Read the teenager's Facebook defence here

 

Right i'm going to clear this up with everyone..
I booked a flight to come home as i had/have A LOT on my mind..
i booked it with monarch and the plane i got on was called 'airline explore' so as i was sitting on the plane i thought to myself this cant be right i've got on the wrong plane..
therefor started to panic as i was in a foreign country with no money left and on my own..
so i asked to get of, they wouldn't let me so i obviously started panicking even more..
out of no-where a passenger grabbed my neck and threw me to the floor so like any of you would have done i kicked of..
by this stage people on the plane started panicking thinking i was a terrorist or something so more and more people started getting involved..
in the end i got taken of the plane and kicked the **** out of by 6 'police officers' ye it took 6 because i lift big weights.
the paper reads absolute ********, i was not 'high on drugs' and i didn't go straight to the airport after a nightclub. i came from my hotel after a being asleep..
think about it would i really take my suitcase out clubbing with me?
even though they drug tested me and i had no symptoms of anything what so ever they still put it in the paper which i think is ridiculously sad..
they big it up as much as they can to make a good read so whoever is in charge will publish it..
if i knew who wrote it i would walk and swim back to that island to bite there ear off.
oh and also i 100% have not 'lost it' or gone 'bonkers' the whole situation has been blown out of proportion so much its unreal.
i was on my own in a foreign country with no money and thought i was on the wrong plane which was an easy mistake to make seen as it was a different plane to what i had booked so i think its fair to say panicking is not out of the ordinary.
If you believe all the **** you read in newspapers i genuinely feel sorry for you. Anyway that's all..
but to those of you who think I'm a 'drug addict' or 'gone bonkers' from one spliff this is to shut you up.
I apologize for taking up your time whilst you have been reading this but i wanted to clear the air as there a few vicious rumors flying about that actually when i think about it are hilarious.
Peace ♥

Comments(35)

140354 says...
11:41am Fri 10 Aug 12

This guy should be made aware that on planes they have humans called stewards and stewardesses who are quite happy to answer questions from passengers regarding the flight destination etc. This guy is an idiot if he did not consider verifying this before he asked to leave the plane! He should not be allowed to travel alone :o)

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Bravo, San Juan says...
12:31pm Fri 10 Aug 12

"So like any of you would have done I kicked of" (sic)

That's always the thinking mans approach...

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DanMacc says...
12:43pm Fri 10 Aug 12

He lifts big weights you know.

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Bravo, San Juan says...
12:47pm Fri 10 Aug 12

One wonders what other heroes Worcester Sixth Form are proudly churning out...

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one94 says...
1:44pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Why isn't the passenger who attacked him up on an assault charge?

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Maggie Would says...
1:47pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Bravo, San Juan wrote:
One wonders what other heroes Worcester Sixth Form are proudly churning out...
Don't blame Worcester 6th Form, he might not have been there for long.
He probably turned up on the first day, realised he was on the wrong course, panicked, 'kicked of' (sic) and left.

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Ted Elgar says...
1:53pm Fri 10 Aug 12

What a total moron.

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Vergil says...
1:55pm Fri 10 Aug 12

I think the only big weight he lifts is the weight of the world on his shoulders!

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StopMoaningAllTheTime says...
2:12pm Fri 10 Aug 12

What a complete and utter prize prat

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glen dipple says...
2:24pm Fri 10 Aug 12

is his facebook statement for real...who is he trying to kid.....if they bring in weight lifting idiot's in the next olympics,i suggest he represents team GB.....

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deborah-coldicottcollins says...
3:26pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Do not judge somebody you have never met. People react in many different ways when they start panicking. All of the above you tell me that you would have stayed calm would you "don't make me laugh" although staff are there to help even I would have panicked. Both the lad in question and the airline have probably over reacted and he is right about one thing the papers do write what they want you to hear because "Its sells papers".

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ushmush83 says...
3:38pm Fri 10 Aug 12

What a weapon!

pleeeze lernz 2 spel

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CJH says...
3:42pm Fri 10 Aug 12

How does he think he got through security and boarding and not be on the right plane? And no, it's not right to generalise about all students at the 6th Form College. Not fair to the majority who would not have reacted this way. Whatever weights he's lifting, it's certainly not IQ points!

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StopMoaningAllTheTime says...
4:05pm Fri 10 Aug 12

deborah-coldicottcol
lins wrote:
Do not judge somebody you have never met. People react in many different ways when they start panicking. All of the above you tell me that you would have stayed calm would you "don't make me laugh" although staff are there to help even I would have panicked. Both the lad in question and the airline have probably over reacted and he is right about one thing the papers do write what they want you to hear because "Its sells papers".
I'd say he's a little bit dense

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Peter WR5 says...
4:18pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Sounds like the Policia Nacional / Guardia Civil have gone soft.

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pedalrider says...
4:51pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Why did he not just ask one of the stewards where the plane was going if he did not know?

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Vox populi says...
12:02am Sat 11 Aug 12

Yes that explanation isn't aggressive at all is it. (just to be clear that's sarcasm in case it goes over your head!)

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Peter WR5 says...
7:49am Sat 11 Aug 12

His name isn’t ‘Pike’, by any chance, is it?

Stupid boy.

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qwertyuiop123 says...
8:44am Sat 11 Aug 12

These comments are ridiculous (bar a few) i agree that you should never judge anyone who you have never met and definitely not a situation you have not witnessed! Also if a passenger came up to you when asking if you could leave the plane and grappled you then your natural instinct is to retaliate and one thing obviously lead to another. Regards to the message he left on facebook he's obviously embarrased and wants to get his story across. I say Worcester News should do a follow up of this as we should hear both sides of the story! He's 17 at the end of the day and after all he was in a foreign country on his own without any money left, would you really want your son/daughter in the news paper for having a panic attack? then being accused of being 'high on drugs' Its stupid.

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Whhaasaap says...
2:04pm Sat 11 Aug 12

CJH wrote:
How does he think he got through security and boarding and not be on the right plane? And no, it's not right to generalise about all students at the 6th Form College. Not fair to the majority who would not have reacted this way. Whatever weights he's lifting, it's certainly not IQ points!
Good point CJH, anyone who has booked on a flight will know, you have to check in and would be told if he was on the wrong flight, so he's talking utter crap, some people may react differently, but 17 or not, you know what will happen if you act like a t**t on a plane.
Sounds to me he has not been educated properly by his parents on how to behave in public, he needs a smack by his mummy!
Six officers to restrain idiots from getting hurt and preventing them from suing the police for injuries, takes that many to take down even the skinniest of drunks in Worcester, nothing to be proud of.
He lifts big weights and yet took one man to throw him to the floor......say it all full of BS!

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iamthebinman says...
9:17am Sun 12 Aug 12

I got on a Great Western train once and realised that I had booked with British Rail. Obviously I kicked off and it took nine marines to stop me as I eat spinach. Next time will be different, I will say to the bloke next to me "excuse me, this is the Birmingham train isn't it?"

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Jabbadad says...
11:20am Sun 12 Aug 12

Maggie again had the answer, when in doubt simply ask the Stewardess or Steward, after all what if during the flight he couldn't understand how to operate the Toilet doors would he have demanded to pop outside for one.
And yes dressing his story up on face book to save his embarrassment to his friends, since he did appear a childish idiot.

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Worcester Observer says...
11:57am Sun 12 Aug 12

Agree with majority view.

When called for boarding did the signs not say Birmingham? When walking or being bussed out to the plane could he not have asked fellow passengers if they were also going to Birmingham? When sitting down on the plane before take-off could he not have asked those sitting beside him if he was on the right plane?

He apologises in his Facebook "defence" for taking up people's time whilst they read it. Annoyingly there is no apology to the 150 + people whose flight was delayed for more than four hours and whose journey back home was disrupted.

I hope somewhere the airlines keep a discreet "blacklist" of people like this young chap and insist in future he is accompanied by some reassuring adult because I certainly wouldn't want him on my return flight home!

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Peter WR5 says...
12:47pm Sun 12 Aug 12

I’ve always found it very easy to know if I’m on a flight to Birmingham. Nearly everyone speaks the same way and the overheard conversations are about how marvellous the Austin Allegro was.

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Jabbadad says...
12:54pm Sun 12 Aug 12

Ha ha, and yes the accent is the same whether the skin tone is from the 2 weeks away or generic.

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lowlybarnacle says...
1:39pm Sun 12 Aug 12

"They drug tested me and I had no symptoms."

Interesting quote in the story, he doesn't comment on the outcome of the drug test.

As for his apparent lack of symptoms, what about his behaviour on the plane?

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qwertyuiop123 says...
8:21pm Sun 12 Aug 12

The drugs test WAS negative hence why charges were dropped. Plus again don't judge, he may have anxiety problems you just don't know!

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CJH says...
8:36pm Sun 12 Aug 12

qwertyuiop123 wrote:
The drugs test WAS negative hence why charges were dropped. Plus again don't judge, he may have anxiety problems you just don't know!
Then he shouldn't have been flying alone in a foreign country with no money!

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Cecil9995 says...
11:02pm Sun 12 Aug 12

There is no excuse for such behaviour on a plane, maybe he should stick to trains and automobiles next time?

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Cecil9995 says...
11:09pm Sun 12 Aug 12

Planes have their fair share of panicky people, those who are naturally panicky, those who hate flying or who are sat next to someone who does, drama queens, those who are nervous about eating airline food, those who find travel to and from holiday destinations stressful, those who think they're sat next to a terrorist. Yet not many manage to create the complete chaos this young lad achieved, do they?

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Maggie Would says...
10:27am Mon 13 Aug 12

Cecil9995 wrote:
Planes have their fair share of panicky people, those who are naturally panicky, those who hate flying or who are sat next to someone who does, drama queens, those who are nervous about eating airline food, those who find travel to and from holiday destinations stressful, those who think they're sat next to a terrorist. Yet not many manage to create the complete chaos this young lad achieved, do they?
.... and that's just the cabin crew!

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Whhaasaap says...
8:52pm Mon 13 Aug 12

Some excellent funny comments on this one, cheered my evening up....

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DarrenM says...
9:50pm Mon 13 Aug 12

"I got on a Great Western train once and realised that I had booked with British Rail. Obviously I kicked off and it took nine marines to stop me as I eat spinach. Next time will be different, I will say to the bloke next to me "excuse me, this is the Birmingham train isn't it?"

Has to be the best comment ever - even better than "in the end i got taken of the plane and kicked the **** out of by 6 'police officers' ye it took 6 because i lift big weights" In the old days I would have said I bet he's 9 stone ringing wet, but if most of the "youth of today" are much to go by he's probably 20 stone and struggles to run to the end of the road!

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MintRE says...
10:02am Tue 14 Aug 12

For all of you people who weren't actually on the flight at the time, I for one was. This boy got onto the plane with noticeably dilated pupils looking slightly confused as he walked down the aisle. Now what the majority of you miss is the fact that this was a MONARCH flight but most people, not just this boy, had been wondering why on earth this 'MONARCH(!!!)' flight had been let out to a 3rd party (of which people didn't know at the time). It was not only this guy who was confused. We had to get on an 'AirExplore' boeing 737 and I'd like to inform you that this is a serbian-lithuanian airline company so his concerns were completely in line with what had happened!

Once on the plane the cabin crew spoke alright English but nowhere near as good as what you expect. They had starey eyes and you didn't feel safe. Unfortunately he reacted worse than others and as I was towards the front of the plane when we approached the runway he walked swiftly down the aisle in what appeared to be going to the toilet (even though you can't on takeoff...). We then saw one of the cabin crew members appear to be pushed or assaulted. A female cabin member stood there in shock and the flight was stopped immediately.

It then took bloody ages to get this guy off, and as he said it took 6 'officers' to get him off which is ridiculous for his height although his build was muscular. To all of you people who weren't actually on the flight, don't judge him when you don't know him / the circumstances ! You weren't even on the actual flight and don't understand the other circumstances that surround it. It is mainly down not to the destination area but the fact that a serbian airline had been let out the flight by monarch without anyone knowing which caused some panic. In the young man this was clearly a lot worse.

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clubber2000 says...
10:15am Fri 17 Aug 12

Anyone who "kicks off" or endangers a flight should be banned from flying for 10 years and made to pay for the cancelled flight.
this young man (i use the term lightly)should have acted responsibly and with care when on the flight/areoplane, the passengers should have been made aware before or just as they were boarding that the areoplane was being let to monarch.
but for the young man to "kick off" is totally irrisponsible and should be banned from flying for 10 years.
that should teach him a lesson

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