A British Airways steward ended up costing his employers £50,000 on his first day at work after he accidentally activated a plane's emergency slide, say reports.
The unnamed new starter was making their debut flight on a Boeing 777 from Heathrow last Friday when he inadvertently triggered an evacuation procedure by opening an escape door, reports The Sun.
This prompted an inflatable evacuation slide to be deployed from the side of the aircraft, which meant the mandatory safety item could no longer be used and a replacement aircraft would be required.
Passengers on board the BA75 flight to Lagos, Nigeria were informed that they would be facing a wait of up to four hours.
The incident ended up costing the airline a total of £50,000, the newspaper reported, with costs including a replacement emergency slide, missing an allotted take-off slot and using a replacement film.
A photograph was later posted to Instagram by a crew member after the flight with the caption: "1 blown slide, 1 NITS briefing, 1 diversion, 2 nights in Lagos, and a very TIRED crew"
A statement reportedly provided by British Airways on the day of the incident read: "The aircraft returned to stand and customers disembarked normally.
"We've apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused, have provided them with refreshment vouchers and have arranged a replacement aircraft so that they can continue their journey as planned."
Boeing 777-200 planes are fitted with eight slides for maximum safety and efficiency, which are all checked almost on a daily basis by highly trained engineers to ensure that they work properly, according to a behind-the-scenes video previously released by the airline.
To operate the slide, engineers open the aircraft door in the 'automatic' position, which automatically causes the inflatable to deploy.
The inflatable structures can be up to 14 metres (46ft) in length, but it take only six seconds for it to roll out, inflate and be ready for passengers.
