An airliner has broken down again after taking off from Gatwick.

Phuket Air's 15-year-old Boeing 747-200 took off at 10am yesterday but turned back within minutes after developing a problem with its hydraulic systems.

There were 82 passengers on board.

It landed at Gatwick at 11.30am and engineers started fixing the hydraulics and checking that it met Thai Aviation Authority safety standards, which are the same as Britain's.

The flight is the third to suffer technical problems this week.

On Sunday a flight from Bangkok to Gatwick stopped for routine refuelling in the United Arab Emirates.

Passengers threatened to storm the cockpit when they saw fuel leaking out of a wing. Phuket Air said the leak was a result of too much fuel being put in and posed no threat.

The passengers were put in hotels until Tuesday when they boarded a different Phuket Air plane but that flight was also delayed because of hydraulic problems.

Eventually it was declared safe to fly and it landed safely at Gatwick at 7.35pm on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, the Boeing 747-200 tried to take off from Gatwick and again suffered problems with its hydraulics.

The decision about whether the aircraft is safe to fly will be made by Phuket Air following an inspection by engineers.

Jamie Purkis, 35, of Alinora Crescent, Goring, Worthing, is still angry with Phuket Air after his wife Duang was on the first grounded flight from Thailand.

He said: "I would never fly with Phuket Air again.

"I just don't feel it is safe and my wife was treated so badly. There is no customer service at all."

A Phuket Air spokeswoman said: "It was the same plane that came back on Tuesday. We believe it was a hydraulic problem but it is an ongoing investigation."

The passengers were transferred to a Thai Airways flight from Heathrow.

Phuket Air's route from Gatwick is being suspended on April 23 because of a lack of demand since the Boxing Day tsunami.