Tom Fenton
A British man was reportedly left 'totally in bits' after his fiancée ditched him at Heathrow Airport earlier this week, taking off with suitcases and £5,000 in cash.
According to reports, the couple got engaged just one day prior, and were all set to officially tie the knot in Rome.
However, the woman then simply vanished with all of her soon-to-be husband's items while he went to the toilet.
After the reality of what she had done sank in, the man – who hasn't been named – eventually called the police, informing them of the missing £5,000 which had be gifted to his partner for the wedding.
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A Met Police spokesperson told The Sun that they were investigating the incident, which took place in Terminal 5.
"Enquiries continue. No arrests have been made at this time," she stated.
Both believed to be in their 40s, the engaged couple had only met very recently according to one onlooker who witnessed the aftermath.
"He'd proposed a day earlier and she'd accepted," they said.
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"They’d planned to marry in Rome and were about to fly there. Then she did a runner while he went to the loo and vanished with all their belongings."
The witness said staff 'looked everywhere for her but they said she was nowhere to be found'.
"In the end, the police were called. Even her name was in doubt by then," they added.
While the Metropolitan Police continue to investigate the theft, it's not yet clear whether the woman in question left the airport, or actually bordered a flight with her ex-partner's money.
It has been an eventful summer for staff at Heathrow Airport, who have also had to contended with long queues, as well as complaints from flyers over delays and lost luggage.
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Such is the demand to travel this summer that Britain's busiest airport has introduced a cap on the number of people allowed to depart per day for the rest of August.
Heathrow Airport will limit the number of daily departing passengers to 100,000 until September 11 as the aviation sector struggles to cope with demand for travel.
The airport has recently been a chaotic site with scenes such as huge mountains of uncollected luggage with people told they may not be reunited with their bags for two days.
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British Airways workers at the airport had threatened to go on strike over the summer holidays due to a pay cut imposed during the pandemic, though this was narrowly averted after a 'vastly improved' pay offer, BBC reports.
Airport bosses will hope that the cap limit can help ease the burden on staff, amid shortages earlier this summer.