25 passengers removed from plane due to 'disruptive behaviour'

Twenty-five passengers, including a 14-year-old boy, were removed from a plane by police after the captain refused to fly due to reports of disorderly behaviour.

The flight had been due to depart Gatwick North Terminal for Costa Rica on Monday morning but was delayed by three hours.

The initial delay was caused by "operational reasons", Thomson Airways said, but passengers were subjected to a further wait due to a "customer incident", which saw police called to reports of disruptive behaviour.

A group of 24 men and one boy, some of whom Sussex Police said had been disorderly, were escorted from the plane.

A police spokesman said: "There was no violence as the officers escorted them away, and no evidence of criminal offences on the aircraft or in the airport."

Thomson Airways apologised to customers for the inconvenience.

A spokeswoman added: "We operate a zero-tolerance policy in relation to any disruptive behaviour and several customers were asked to leave the aircraft. We worked as quickly as possible to ensure the other customers could get away on their holiday.

"Customer and crew safety is our priority at all times and we would like to reassure everyone that incidents of this nature are extremely rare."