Plane firm apologises over Vote Leave flypast during Jo Cox memorial in Trafalgar Square

Jamie Bullen22 June 2016
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A company who organised a plane to fly over Trafalgar Square during the Jo Cox memorial bearing a message to Vote Leave has apologised after it sparked disgust among mourners.

Hampshire-based aircraft manufacturer Britten-Norman said crew on board the plane could not have known about the “coincidence of timing” and added it was sorry for causing any offence.

Thousands of people gathered in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday to pay tribute to Mrs Cox, who championed Britain to remain in the EU, on what would have been her 42nd birthday.

Mourners in the crowd reacted with outrage when the plane flew over the London landmark with some branding Brexit campaigners as disgusting.

Among them was Labour MP Stella Creasy, who tweeted: "flying your plane over the memorial tribute to Jo Cox in Trafalgar Square is beyond low. Have some self respect and disappear!”

A Britten-Norman spokeswoman said: “We understand that, during a pre-planned photo opportunity over Westminster today, we were visible from Trafalgar Square and that our flight coincided with an important memorial service.

Tributes: Thousands of Londoners packed in Trafalgar Square to honour Mrs Cox on what would have been her 42nd birthday
Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA

“The timing of our flight was determined by weather, air traffic control and the prior approval of the the Diplomatic Protection Group and required the consent of the Metropolitan Police.

“We are clearly very disappointed that the timing of the service and our flight have overlapped but there was no NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) requesting the avoidance and the coincidence of timing could not have been known by the crew flying the sortie.

“Our sincere apologies to anyone present who has been offended by the overflight. We would also like to take the opportunity to advise that the flight was a private one and was not sanctioned by the official Vote Leave campaign.”

The official Vote Leave campaign also apologised even though the group said it was unaware of the stunt.

A spokesman said: “This wasn't our plane so we had no idea it would fly over the memorial service.

“Had we known that these people were planning to do it we would have asked them not to.

“We can only apologise on their behalf for any offence caused. We do not think they realised that the service was taking place.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in