A BA flight from LHR to DXB was forced to turn back to Britain because of what one passenger termed a “smelly poo" in one of the aircraft's toilets.

Abhishek Sachdev, a town councillor from Hertfordshire, was on the flight. His indignant tweet more or less summed up the situation: “Insane! Our BA flight to Dubai returned back to Heathrow because of a smelly poo in the toilet! 15hrs until next flight… #britishairways"

Cabin crew battled unsuccessfully to fix the problem, but the stench finally became too much. The plane had reached Belgian airspace before the pilot deemed the stink too strong to put up with for the seven-hour flight, the Welwyn Hatfield Times reported.

Passengers were accommodated in a hotel near Heathrow before flying out to Dubai the following day, after a 15-hour delay.

Speaking from Heathrow, Sachdev told the paper that the pilot announced he was turning back because of “liquid fecal excrement spilling over."

Sachdev said the pilot advised passengers that “You may have noticed there's a quite pungent smell coming from one of the toilets."

Passengers were informed the flight would have to return to London for health and safety reasons. “He said it's not a technical fault with the plane," said Sachdev, “and he was very adamant about that."

British Airways later stated: “We're very sorry for the discomfort to our customers. We provided them with hotel accommodation and rescheduled the flight to depart the following day's lunchtime on an alternative aircraft."