Witnesses said that the flight was first delayed due to technical issues before the passengers started being abusive. Police boarded the flight to remove the passengers – which included a 14 year-old boy – after the pilot refused to fly with them on board.
Sussex police told the Daily Mail: “At 11.35am on Monday police were called to an outbound Thomson flight due to leave Gatwick North Terminal for Costa Rica after the captain refused to fly with a group of 25 male passengers, all adults except for one 14-year old boy, some of whom had been disorderly on the aircraft”.