Twenty-three people from two different stag parties have been removed from a flight at Manchester airport after complaints of drunken and rowdy behaviour before the plane had taken off.

One man was issued with a public order fixed penalty notice after the pilot returned to the gate, where police boarded the plane to help cabin crew remove the passengers.

According to reports from passengers on Twitter, police initially escorted three people from two different groups off the Prague-bound flight, then remaining members of the groups who protested were also allowed to leave.

One passenger posted pictures showing three police vehicles on the tarmac by the plane and armed officers boarding the flight, which was delayed for about two-and-half hours on Friday. Another quoted the pilot as saying over the public address system: “I have a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour towards the cabin crew.”

Around 20 pax removed altogether from #jet2 flight by police, now 2 hours delayed pic.twitter.com/pTszPFaPAY — Lauren Sian (@LaurenSianWorld) April 14, 2017

Greater Manchester police said: “At 3.45pm, GMP officers at the airport assisted with the removal of a group of passengers from a Jet2 flight en route to Prague. One was issued with a public order fixed penalty notice. In total, 23 passengers were offloaded.”

A Jet2 spokesman said: “Flight LS887 from Manchester to Prague had to return to the parking stand after our crew called for police assistance. We would like to thank Greater Manchester police for their assistance this afternoon and will be fully supporting the investigation, and where required, will prosecute if that is deemed necessary.

“We apologise to all other customers for the inconvenience that this has caused at the start of their bank holiday weekend.

“A family friendly airline we will not let the behaviour of a disruptive few spoil the flight for everyone else.”