THIS is the moment a furious passenger was bundled off a plane by three policemen after he allegedly locked himself in the loo during landing.

Passengers said the man was “quiet all the flight” from Faro in Portugal to Gatwick, until the seatbelt signs came on, and he demanded to go to the toilet.

He apparently forced his way to the back of the plane and into the cubicle, despite protests from staff, then locked himself inside for ten minutes.

The Argus:

By the time easyJet staff got him out, the captain was forced to abort the landing, and then spent an extra 40 minutes in the air and on the runway.

Onlookers claim he tried to escape to the loos twice more after police were called while the plane sat on the runway.

A video shows the moment he’s confronted by three police officers.

The Argus:

The man can be heard talking to officers, who ask him to “come and have a chat” because he was “obstructive on the flight”.

He then asks in disbelief: “Are you kidding me?”

The police ask him to stand up, only for the man to resist and say “pi** off” - at which point, officers made the decision to arrest him.

A member of the public, who helped the police officers by holding the man from behind, can be heard saying: “If you try to bite me, you’ll get a punch in the face”.

The Argus:

The man throws his weight downwards to make it hard for police to move him and he can be seen thrashing around as they try to handcuff him.

As police took the man away the passengers began to applaud.

Passenger Tom Porter, 24, an estate agent from Chichester, filmed parts of the 20-minute struggle with the cops on May 18.

Tom, who was coming home from a golfing holiday with his father and two uncles, said: “He was this angry, wild animal, and didn’t want taming.

“He was obviously really angry when the air stewards blocked him from locking himself in the bathroom after he knew police were coming.

The Argus:

“And then he sat for about 15 minutes just diagonally away from me, glaring at people, swearing at anyone who looked at him and telling them to die if they made eye contact.

“To be honest, the whole episode was shocking, and not what you want to see.

“We were all glad the police took him away, and glad to see the back of him.”

Tom said the man was quiet throughout most of the flight and only “kicked off” in the final descent at about 10.40pm.

He said cabin crews “weren’t happy” when he said he needed the toilet as the plane prepared to land, but he forced his way to the back of the plane and locked himself in the cubicle for 10 minutes.

Four air stewards - three women and one male - knocked on the door every couple of minutes asking him to go back to his seat for the landing.

When this failed, the crew opened the toilet door, and the man - stood fully clothed facing them - screamed: “Why won’t you let me go for a pi**?” according to Tom.

The man took his seat, but cabin crew hadn’t secured the cabin in time, so were forced to abort the landing, Tom revealed, and the plane ascended again.

He added: “Everyone was terrified at that point because we could see the lights below and we didn’t know what was going on”.

After an extra 15 minutes in the air, the plane finally landed in Gatwick but taxied for “quite a while” - about 10 minutes driving and 15 minutes stationary.

Tom said the captain told the passengers to stay in their seats because police were coming to escort the man away.

The man, “clearly unsettled by the announcement”, tried to lock himself in the bathroom two more times in the next 15 minutes - but his path was blocked by a male air steward.

Three police officers boarded the plane and took the struggling man off in handcuffs when he resisted their orders.

In two separate videos, the man can be seen walking in handcuffs outside the passenger airline. At one point he tries to block the doorway with his legs to stop officers from removing him from the plane.

He was then put in the back of a police van and taken away.

Tom described the yob as 5ft 10in with short brown hair and in his 30s, and said he was “stocky and strong, like a raging bull who would have caused serious damage”.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said they were called to an incident on May 18 at Gatwick airport.

They said a 44-year-old man was arrested and charged with using threatening or abusive words or behaviour which were racially aggravated, behaving in a threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly manner towards a member of aircraft crew, two counts of assault on an emergency worker, and assault on an emergency worker in the exercise of their duty.

The spokesman added: “The defendant has been released on bail and is due to appear before Crawley Magistrates’ Court on June 19.”

A spokesman for easyJet confirmed that police were requested by the captain following “disruptive behaviour of a passenger during the descent”.

They said: “Easyjet can confirm that the Captain of flight EZY8926 from Faro to London Gatwick on May 18 requested police to meet the aircraft on arrival due to the disruptive behaviour of a passenger during the descent.

“Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously.

“We do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board and always push for prosecution.

“Easyjet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.

“Safety is always Easyjet’s highest priority.”