French Police Turn Back Private Jet, Forcing Brits To Abandon Holiday Plans

French police have forced a private jet carrying a party of 10 would-be holidaymakers to return to London.

Seven men in their 40s and three women in their early 20s landed at Marseille-Provence airport last Saturday, where helicopters were set to take them to Cannes, where they had rented a luxury villa, according to The Guardian. The craft was chartered by a Croatian businessman reportedly in “finance and property.”

“They were coming for a holiday in Cannes and three helicopters were waiting on the tarmac,” a border police spokesperson told Agence France-Presse. “We notified them they were not allowed to enter the national territory and they left four hours later.”

A police source told BFMTV the pilot had been advised not to land the Embraer Legacy jet at Marseille-Provence, but did so anyway. On landing, the group, made up of several nationalities including Croatian, German, French, Romanian and Ukrainian, reportedly tried to get help from contacts to continue their journey. –The Guardian

“They tried to make use of their connections and made a few phone calls,” said the Guardian‘s source.

The helicopter pilots, meanwhile, were ordered to return to their base and were fined for breaking quarantine. French police say they will be carrying out strict checks on private aircraft arriving in the country for the Easter holiday. Non-essential travel has been banned in France since March 17, while a recent tightening of restrictions means that anyone entering the country needs to prove their travel is essential with an international travel certificate.

According to authorities in France and Britain, traveling to a second home in either country is not essential.

“Crossing borders needs a legitimate or urgent reason” according to a police spokesperson.

France currently just under 125,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 13,000 deaths.