Puppy causes havoc at airport

A strange sight awaited Terry and Susan Smith as they waited on board an airplane waiting to go to Lanzarote . Looking out of the plane window they saw their dog running down the runway being chased by airport security .

The incident took place at Manchester airport as the Smith’s were travelling to Lanzarote to start a new life there with their Spaniel Poppy. However the little pup managed to escape from her enclosure in the cargo hold and fled onto the tarmac.

On seeing this, the couple shouted at the cabin staff to stop the plane. The result was that the couple had to pay £400 for another flight to the Canary Islands, and a 15 minute delay to the outgoing flight .

Mr Smith said, "We were in our seats ready for take-off and looking forward to our new life when we suddenly spotted Poppy on the runway. We couldn’t believe our eyes .

"We thought Poppy was safe in her cage in the cargo deck. We never thought she would get out. We obviously had to get off the plane and it took us 10 minutes to catch Poppy. She was terrified by all the noise and would not let anyone get near to her.

"About four vehicles penned her into a small space before I was allowed to pick Poppy up – she was exhausted.

"We ended up having to spend another £400 to re- book a flight but we were just glad Poppy was safe. We don’t know what would have happened if we hadn’t caught her. They might have had to shoot her. I am just glad we were on that side of the plane. If we hadn’t we wouldn’t have seen her and would have arrived in Lanzarote to find she had been left behind.

"She was absolutely terrified and was running straight across where all the planes came in. Then the security were chasing her in the 4x4s and trying to cut her off."

The couple from Blackpool have another dog called Pelayo and paid £800 for both dogs to be flown over to Lanzarote on the Boeing 767s cargo deck. It was never expected that Poppy would be able to escape from her cage.

The company responsible for the transportation of the dogs is Animal Airlines based in Cheshire. They said it was the first time in 40 years that a dog had escaped from a cage in the plane.