FURIOUS jet passengers were ordered to pay pounds 20,000 to get back to Britain after an airline ran out of cash.

Staff marched the travellers to cashpoints after a six-hour stand-off during which they refused to leave the plane or hand over the money.

Their ordeal began when the Comtel Air flight carrying more than 180 people from Amritsar in India landed to refuel at Vienna. They were told the firm had "run out of cash to fund the last leg of the trip" to Birmingham and the flight would only continue if they coughed up the cash.

Blind passenger Gurhej Kaur, 80, said she could not get her medication which was in the hold. A relative, Dalvinder Batra, 34, added: "It's absolutely disgusting. There are still people stuck out there. We have been told that the company has gone bust."

Another traveller, Tarlochan Singh, 57, of Wolverhampton, said: "They wanted all the money in cash. Everyone was furious, that is why we had the sit-in."

And Chanhj Dehal, 32, added: "We were escorted to the cashpoint to take money out. They said there was a deficit of 24,000 euros."

After the whipround their return to Birmingham was delayed four hours. Many bought their pounds 500 tickets via a Smethwick travel agent. But they did not answer inquiries.

Comtel's air services director Bhupinder Kandra said he would ring back. He failed to answer later calls. The airline is registered in Austria. Anyone due to fly with it is advised to contact the travel agent they booked through.

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