British lager louts to blame for most criminal complaints at Alicante airport

Alicante’s main El Altet airport reported 216 criminal complaints this year, and British lager louts are mainly to blame.

Seventy-five per cent, or 163, of the complaints referred to British holidaymakers, compared with just eight complaints against Spanish nationals, followed by Italy with seven.

After Alicanta, Madrid, Mallorca and Malaga have the most numbers of incidents recorded.  Statistics from Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency AESA show that there were 105 altercations on flights operating to or from the Costa del Sol last year, out of a total of 862 registered in Spain.

Last month, a British couple were filmed punching each other violently on a shuttle bus at Alicante airport after getting drunk on their Ryanair flight.

Aesa has fined 729 disruptive passengers more than half a million euros since 2017, and last year released a video about the dangers of drunk and disruptive behaviour on Spanish flights.