Call for drone law review after near miss at Gatwick

♦the law on drones should be reviewed, the Solicitor General has said, after the runway at Gatwick Airport was closed over safety concerns.

Flights were disrupted for parts of Sunday evening after a drone flew too close to the airport and the runway had to be closed twice, once for nine minutes and later for five minutes.

Four easyjet flights were diverted and one British Airways service was sent to Bournemouth Airport following the closure, with others left circling Gatwick.

Robert Buckland, the Solicitor General, called for a review of the law. “The legislation relating to aviation is quite old,” he told The Westminster Hour on BBC Radio 4.

“The development of drones is a relatively recent phenomenon. We need to look very carefully… to make sure that where offences occur which cause risk to life and limb, massive disruption and criminal damage, that the law is fit for the purpose of prosecuting the perpetrators of this type of crime.”

After Sunday’s incident, pilots warned of a “disaster” unless drones were subjected to tougher regulation.

The British Airline Pilots’ Association is calling for compulsory registration of drone users to allow police to track down people flying them irresponsibly.