A Boeing 767, which was bound for London Heathrow from Canada, was waiting to taxi down a runway when a passenger spotted a rodent in an overhead locker. The captain of the Air Canada flight ordered all of the 205 passengers off of the plane so a pest control team could try and catch the rat. Despite a very intensive search, the rodent could not be found. The flight had to be canceled and passengers spent the night at a hotel near Ottawa’s Macdonald Cartier International airport.

This is just the latest in a series of animal scares on a plane. Just last April a Qantas flight had to be grounded in Australia after four python snakes escaped from a cage. On another fight, in October, a jet from New York to Heathrow was halted on the runway after a mouse ran through the cabin.

Richard Jones, age 25 from London, had been due to collect his girlfriend Victoria from Heathrow. He said that she called to say that they had boarded the plane and the doors were closed when the captain came on the PA system. He apparently said that they had bad news, because a giant rat had been seen in the overhead lockers, and they needed everyone to get off the plane while they tried to find it. However, after about 30 minutes the captain walked up to the gates and shook his head. They announced that the flight was canceled.

Richard Jones’ girlfriend still arrived to the UK the other night after taking another jet. He went on to say that he has heard a lot of excuses for planes being delayed before, but he had never heard of a flight being canceled because of a rat.

by Natalie Cooper of http://www.comparecarrentals.co.uk