British Airways flight grounded at Heathrow Airport after crew find a MOUSE on board
Bemused travellers took to Twitter after their flight was delayed following the "rather unusual occurrence"
A MOUSE grounded a US-bound plane today after the rodent was spotted on board the flight at Heathrow Airport.
Passengers were seated and ready to jet off to San Francisco this morning when the "rather unusual occurrence" was announced.
Crew told those travelling planes cannot take off with mice on board, and that another flight would be scheduled.
One passenger, Carly, said there was "general disbelief" among she and her fellow travellers when the news was broken, .
She added: “"I'm not sure people knew how to react.”
related stories
The flight eventually left about four hours after its scheduled time of 10:40 this morning.
Some of those on board took to Twitter to share their disbelief.
@markwatt wrote: "Just had my flight to SFO cancelled because of a mouse on board the plane. Could it not get a visa?? #britishairways".
@midlandsound wrote: "About to fly to SF, There is a mouse on the plane, We all must get off."
He added: "I'm going to sell this to the movies. It can be the slightly more pedestrian prequel to snakes on a plane. Maybe this is what lured them on?"
A British Airways spokesman said: "We know almost everyone wants to fly with us to San Francisco, but on this occasion there was one very small customer who we had to send back to the gate.
"Everyone with two legs is now on their way to California, and we are sorry for the delay."
Heathrow Airport said it could not comment on individual flights.