The co-pilot who put the 'taxi' into taxiing

Anyone who uses Ryanair knows that its reputation for cheap fares is only surpassed by its reputation for tardiness.

Therefore imagine the surprise of one of the airline's first officers when he found that his flight home to Esbjerg, Denmark aboard a 737-200 jet was leaving Stansted early and the retractable gangplank had already been removed.

Ignoring all the rules, he ran on to the apron and successfully flagged the plane down. A statement by the airline yesterday argued that the incident on 24 November was "unorthodox" rather than dangerous. But it admitted that the co-pilot had been disciplined.