Father, son run after plane on runway after missing flight

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plane, runway, Italy, DJ Tony

They were fined Dh8,000 each.

By Web Report

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Published: Thu 19 Sep 2019, 12:54 PM

Last updated: Thu 19 Sep 2019, 3:06 PM

A father-son duo was detained by armed police in Italy and fined 2,000 euro (Dh8,000 approx) each for running down the runway to chase their plane back to London.
DJ Tony Loi, 40, and Antonino Loi, 65, was at the Cagliari airport when they realised it was "last call" for easyJet flight back home.
The men, who were on a holiday on the Italian island of Sardinia, forced open an emergency door and started chasing departed plane.
The security breach triggered emergency alarm and police later stressed they risked "being shot".
"We usually board at a gate on the first floor so that's where we were sitting but they boarded from below. They said they called us but neither of us heard anything on the tannoy - I had earphones in but I didn't hear anything over the tannoy," Tony Loi was quoted as saying in The Sun. 
Describing the incident as "ridiculous and stupid", Tony said, "My dad saw an easyJet plane outside and then saw that boarding was shut. I ran downstairs towards the plane, I thought the stairs to the plane were still there, so I basically exited a door that put an alarm off."
Tony, who now plan to challenge the hefty fine, said, "I just wanted to catch the plane. I'm not a criminal and we weren't drunk. As I was running a copper with a gun chased me. To be honest, I actually thought the police officer was going to radio the plane and tell them to make an exception and let us off but, it was the opposite, a different case altogether."


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