The Curious Case of the Potters Bar Councilor & the Smelly Poo
Jeff Edwards March 16, 2015
A public official from Hertsmere Borough, north of London, raised quite a stink when he tweeted that his British Airways flight returned to the gate and was canceled due to “a smelly poo” onboard.
Taking to Twitter to gripe about a canceled flight doesn’t often capture people’s imagination in the way that Hertsmere Councilmember Abhishek Sachdev’s rant about his stymied plans to fly British Airways from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Dubai International Airport (DXB) did last week. Sachdev took to social media to inform his friends and constituents about the ordeal, tweeting:
Insane! Our BA flight to Dubai returned back to Heathrow because of a smelly poo in the toilet! 15hrs until next flight… #britishairways
— Abhishek Sachdev (@CllrAbhiSach) March 12, 2015
Ordinarily, Sachdev might have been thrilled to avoid spending seven hours on a plane that reeked of human waste, but in this instance, he was traveling to Dubai to be at his pregnant wife’s side. “At first, we were told the next flight was in three hours but then that changed to 15 hours,” Sachdev told the Welwyn Hatfield Times.
“I’ve never heard anything like it,” said Sachdev. “We were in the air when the pilot announced we were turning back because of liquid excrement spilling over.”
The council member says he himself didn’t smell anything foul onboard and only learned about the excrement emergency when the pilot announced the aircraft was returning to LHR.
British Airways has since released an apology for the messy situation, stating:
We’re very sorry for the discomfort to our customers. We provided them with hotel accommodation and rescheduled the flight to depart the following day’s lunchtime on an alternative aircraft.
[Photo: iStock]
