THOMAS COOK GAMBLES WITH PEOPLES' LIVES

When holidaymakers were asked to sit at the back of the plane to balance heavy luggage in the front of the hold, many thought it was a bad joke.
But it was a serious request. One of the doors to the hold was jammed, meaning bags could be loaded only at one end, making the plane nose-heavy.
However, the call for passengers to act as human ballast towards the tail provoked panic, and 71 refused to board.

The travellers had been waiting to fly home from Majorca to Newcastle on a Thomas Cook flight when they were told to abandon their allocated seats and sit at the rear.
The captain insisted the plane was safe, but some of those waiting to board claim that in-coming passengers, disembarking from the same plane, told them not to get on as it was the worst flight they had ever had.
Dave Charlton, from Blyth, Northumberland, who was due to travel on Sunday's flight with his wife Susan and son Adam, six, was terrified by the look on the faces of tourists getting off the plane.
'People were kissing the ground and putting their hands together like they were praying,' he said. 'There were girls sobbing and children crying.
'When people are getting off the plane saying, "Don't get on" and we'd been told there was a fault with it, there was no way we would get on. It's just not worth the risk.
'All we asked was that they fixed it. We just wanted a plane that would stay level without us being used as ballast.' The family flew back the next day with easyJet at a cost of £600.