A beauty therapist due to fly out to comfort the loved ones of a friend who died was kicked off the plane to Ibiza when she got drunk and refused to wear a facemask.
Mother of two Hayley Box, 34, was arrested when she repeatedly tried to board the Ryanair flight from Manchester Airport having drunk more than a bottle of white wine.
Cabin crew alerted police when she ignored requests to wear a mask and was then abusive when she was escorted off the flight.
She later claimed she was so drunk she could not remember trying to get on flight FR2626.
Beauty therapist Hayley Box was kicked off the flight to Ibiza after getting drunk and refusing to wear a facemask
Appearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court Box, who lives in Shifnal, Shrops, admitted being drunk on a plane and was fined £120.
Prosecutor Rachel Dixon said: ‘Her flight was due to depart shortly after 6am. She boarded the plane. She was approached by the cabin manager. The cabin manager asked her to put on her facemask, but the defendant was non-compliant.
‘The cabin manager said the defendant was slow to respond and hear the instructions. The defendant was also asked several times for her passport but she did not comply with these requests.
‘The cabin manager…told her she could leave voluntarily or leave with the police. She then decided to fasten her seatbelt and the police were contacted.
‘As the police arrived, the defendant stood up and became quite aggressive. She started crying, claiming that her friend had died and that she needed to go to Ibiza. As the police started climbing the steps, she removed herself.
‘But the defendant then tried to return to the plane, and they took her off again. She was abusive towards officers.’
During a police interview she said she had drunk a bottle of wine earlier in the day and gone to bed at 2am for an hour before getting up an hour later for her flight.
The mum of two had been on her way to Ibiza to console the loved ones of a friend who died
The court was told Hayley Box was ‘mortified and ashamed’ by her actions at Manchester Airport
In mitigation for Box, defence lawyer Jane Shaw said: ‘She is mortified and ashamed by the fact that she is in court today.
‘She explains that she lost a friend in Ibiza to an overdose in August 2020 and the reason for her going to Ibiza was to console her friends.
‘She was very, very raw and had not expected the death of her close friend.. She stayed overnight at the Clayton Hotel and drank a bottle of wine. She had very little sleep and in the airport to calm herself, she stupidly drank another glass of wine.
The incident delayed the plane at Manchester Airport for about ten minutes, the court was told
‘She was very emotional and wanted to calm herself. She doesn’t remember getting onto the plane. She doesn’t remember speaking to the captain. The police officer says that during the interview, she did not want to listen to the account of what happened. It was upsetting to her.
‘She is a single mother and has two children. She is a beautician by trade and she has had a very hard twelve months and has had to rely on benefits for the first time ever. There doesn’t appear to be any substantial delay to the plane. There was a very, very small 10-minute delay caused to the plane.’
Box was also ordered to pay £119 in costs.