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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Sian Traynor & Iona Young

Edinburgh bound Ryanair flight 'crashes' on runway as passengers face 7-hour delay

An Edinburgh bound Ryanair flight was forced to abandon take off after it 'crashed' with a grounds vehicle on its way to the runway.

Passengers onboard flight FR 1018 were forced to wait seven hours for a new plane after the aircraft collided with the vehicle on Friday morning (July 15.) Scheduled to take off from Budapest Airport in Hungary, the airline confirmed that the plane had suffered "minor damage" as a result of the collision.

Those onboard the aircraft were then disembarked from the plane, where they waited a further seven hours before a replacement flight was organised to Edinburgh Airport.

READ MORE: First look inside Edinburgh's new £47m Meadowbank Stadium ahead of opening

On board the flight were three Edinburgh men, who spoke to Edinburgh Live this week about the nightmare they had experienced after their original flight home from Budapest was cancelled.

Saying they felt the plane "hit something on the runway", Paul, Andy and Leo were three of the many passengers then told to leave the flight and wait for a replacement.

Earlier in the week, the trio said they were 'stranded' in the Hungarian capital for seven days after heading out for what was meant to be a city break, before their original return flight was scrapped with only hours notice.

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Speaking earlier this week, they said: "It's honestly shocking. If you're not in a privileged position to be abroad and have the funds to accommodate then what are you actually supposed to do, they've shown a complete lack of respect for their customers. We did originally try to go a different route to either Manchester or London but they were well over £400 each."

Confirming the incident on Friday morning, a Ryanair spokesperson said:

“A Ryanair aircraft in Budapest this morning (15 July) received very minor damage from a ground vehicle. As a precaution, passengers were offloaded from the aircraft and provided with refreshments and transferred to a spare aircraft which departed with a 7 hour delay this afternoon.

Ryanair sincerely apologises to affected passengers for any inconvenience.”

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