Drunk air passenger drives on runways

An inebriated British passenger making his way home to the UK for Christmas managed to slip out on to the tarmac at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands, steal a car, and career drunkenly around the runways – usually some of the busiest in Europe.

The man was waiting in a lounge for a red-eye flight at about 1.30 on Christmas morning when he pressed an emergency button at one of the departure gates, the gate opened and he wandered on to the airport apron where passengers embark and disembark.

He managed to steal a car belonging to one of the airport’s contractors and drive off briefly and erratically across the runways before airport police gave chase and arrested him.

‘Good luck’

“There aren’t many flights at that time between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and there were none at all arriving or departing at the time he took the car – but that was just good luck because of the time of year,” said a police spokesman.

Schiphol is the fifth-busiest airport in the world, with about 50 million passengers during 2012, and although the Christmas Eve incident ended without injury, it has raised serious questions about security during off-peak periods.

When the man, who has not been named, pressed the emergency button it simultaneously triggered an alarm which alerted authorities that the airport’s security had been breached.

“He drove around for a few minutes, but at no time was there any danger to flights or passengers,” said the spokesman.

Reaction

Passengers were not so unruffled. “Schiphol has a reputation for very tight security mainly because the Netherlands has a reputation for drugs,” said one. “But this shows that reputation and reality are not always the same thing. A few minutes is a long time. He could have done anything.”

The man missed his flight and was held overnight. It is understood a report was sent to the public prosecutor’s office.