A BUNGLING driver sparked travel chaos after his airport vehicle rolled underneath a British Airways jet.
Chaos ensued when the official forgot to apply the handbrake and his car came to a stop beneath a wing.
Flight BA57 to Johannesburg was late leaving Heathrow on Monday night as emergency services raced to the scene.
Engineers were called to the dramatic scene at Terminal 5 to ensure the plane was safe to fly following the collision.
The vehicle causing turbulence to the BA operation belonged to aeronautical firm Thales, who specialise in inflight entertainment and connectivity issues on jets.
Footage taken on the tarmac shows the large white van abandoned underneath the plane as workers try to resolve the issue.
A source told The Sun: “The driver was a numbskull not using the handbrake and was incredibly sheepish when the vehicle rolled underneath the jet, causing pandemonium and delaying hundreds of passengers.
“Passengers groaned in disbelief but a few engineers saw the funny side and shouted, ‘You can’t park there mate!’”
BA was approached for comment.
This comes after we reported earlier how a passenger was handcuffed in his seat for raging and threatening the crew on a British Airways flight after they refused to serve him a drink.
Simon Jones, 51, was on a flight from LA International Airport to London Heathrow when he became “agitated” and began angrily shouting at staff.
On Monday, he appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court where he was sentenced to 12 months’ community service – and 150 hours of unpaid work.
It was also revealed last week how a British Airways captain on £170,000 a year was caught stealing from a cafe at the airline’s headquarters.
He was among light-fingered senior managers who were hauled in for questioning before escaping with a warning.
The culprits were caught on CCTV nicking food and coffee from the airline’s Waterside flight operations hub near Heathrow.
In other British Airways news, earlier this month we told how a flight was forced to make an emergency landing when an ex-Air Marshal died and a pregnant woman suffered a health scare.
The plane, jetting off from London Heathrow on route to Nigeria, quickly descended into chaos around two hours into the journey.
The aircraft was due to land at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, in Abuja at around 5am on Monday, but diverted to Barcelona.
A retired military chief, 80, was returning home after receiving cancer treatment in the UK.
But as reported by Nigerian media, panic ensued when he became critically ill on board and tragically died.
Meanwhile, a pregnant woman was also rushed off the plane upon landing after suffering a medical episode.
