106 people stopped from flying out of Gatwick since June
A police campaign to reduce the number of passengers at Gatwick Airport boarding flights to popular stag and hen destinations like Las Vegas and Magaluf while drunk has been hailed a success.
Operation Disrupt ran from the start of June to last weekend, and in that time police have dealt with 118 incidents.
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In those incidents, 26 people were arrested at Gatwick Airport or on board planes before they took off, and 80 people were refused permission to fly.
Back in June, PCSO Victor Finch explained about Operation Disrupt on his blog, writing: "Operation Disrupt is a Gatwick Police summer campaign based around dealing with disruptive passengers travelling on certain routes that have been flagged up by airline companies based at the airport.
"It is mainly on late evening and night flights which allows certain passengers the opportunity to drink alcohol before arriving at the airport and then to carry on drinking within the airport before they board the aircraft.
"By engaging with these individuals at an early stage, explaining to them the pit falls of being drunk when getting to the aircraft and offering them a leaflet with more detailed information on we are looking to reduce incidents taking place once the aircraft is in flight.
"Gatwick Police are working in conjunction with some of the UK based major airlines who work at London Gatwick Airport in spreading the word that anti social/drunken behaviour will not be tolerated. The very least is that a passenger will be refused carriage with also the possibility that they could be arrested."
Police produced posters warning passengers what might happen if they were found to be too drunk.
Among the 80 people who were either refused boarding or removed from flights, 16 people were due to fly on the same plane.
Sergeant Darren Taylor, who heads the airport's community safety team, told the Daily Mail: "This incident was two different groups going to Spain. They clearly didn't get on and were being verbally abusive to each other.
"We made the decision because if that is what they were going to be like on the ground what would they be like in the air?"
The campaign has been such a success it will be rolled out again next summer.
According to to the Crawley News, Sergeant Taylor added: "The summer campaign is over now but we will still have a presence in the airport.
"99.9 per cent of flights are fine but when incidents rear their ugly heads we want to be there to catch them.
"People save up their hard-earned money to go on holiday and shouldn't have to put up with unacceptable behaviour."
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