London: In a bizarre incident, a busy London airport was evacuated when a passenger who was running late for a flight to Frankfurt triggered a fire alarm in a bid to delay the plane.
The London City Airport had to be evacuated on Tuesday when the passenger reportedly smashed the alarm after arriving late for his British Airways flight in a bid to gain access to the plane from another gate.
The terminal had to be evacuated by staff at 2.45 pm (local time) before people were allowed to re-enter 15 minutes later, The Independent reported.
Scotland Yard said they were called to the scene and spoke to the passenger in question, but did not make any arrests.
"Once an aircraft has started its engines there`s little you can do to get on board if you`re late, short of clinging to the undercarriage - which we obviously wouldn`t recommend," a City Airport spokesperson was quoted as saying by the daily.
"Lovely though Frankfurt is, the person who triggered the alarm will probably, with hindsight, wish they had taken it on the chin and re-booked as the matter was taken up by police," the spokesperson said.
British Airways said it could not comment on whether the passenger was allowed to board another flight after the incident.
"A passenger due to travel on the BA8734 flight to Frankfurt yesterday was extremely late arriving at the departure gate at London City Airport," a spokesman for the airline said.
"By the time he did arrive the aircraft had pushed back, the passenger had been offloaded and the British Airways ground staff had left the area. The passenger then tried to gain access to another gate area by smashing the fire alarm to release the doors. Once the fire alarm was activated the terminal building was evacuated," he said.
