Fine for drunken passenger who went wrong way after getting off plane

A drunken airline passenger who headed the wrong way after getting off the plane at Sumburgh was branded “arrogant and stupid” before being fined £335 at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

Ian Flaws, 32, of Hestingott in Virkie, admitted entering a restricted zone and breaching the Aviation Security Act on 29th November last year.

The court heard Flaws had ignored shouts from airport staff ordering him to turn back after he had followed fellow passengers down the steps of the plane and promptly turned the wrong way. It was only when a fire engine blocked his path that he was eventually stopped.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said Flaws, who had been drinking heavily before boarding the flight in Orkney, had carried out an act of “incredible arrogance and stupidity”.

He added: “Had it happened at a larger airport on the mainland the response could have been much more significant than it was here.”
Sheriff Derek Livingston told the court: “I do see this sort of situation – particularly in the age we live in now where security is all-important – as being quite unacceptable.”