A British Airways jet made an emergency landing at Gatwick after the pilot smelt burning in the cockpit.

Flight BA324 flight from Heathrow to Paris had 70 passengers on board when the drama unfolded yesterday.

The Boeing 757 was diverted to Gatwick and made a safe landing shortly after 7pm. The passengers were taken off the plane.

A BA spokesman said paramedics were on the scene in case any of the passengers needed attention. No one was injured.

He said: "There was a smell of burning in the cockpit. Masks were deployed for the flight crew only because there was no indication that there was a smell in the cabin.

"As a precaution, the fire services were on the runway. Passengers walked off the aircraft with their belongings.

"The plane was diverted and fire crews were in attendance. We encourage that because we do not want any question mark over the seriousness with which we take these incidents."

The plane was grounded to allow engineers to carry out an inspection.

The passengers continued their journey on another scheduled flight from Gatwick to Paris.

Minutes before the alert last night, a Thomas Cook flight from Mahon in the Balearic Islands to Birmingham also diverted to Gatwick when the pilot detected a vibration in one of the engines.

A spokesman for the holiday company said the Boeing 757-200 plane could have flown safely on to its destination but instead landed safely at Gatwick to make the flight more comfortable for passengers.

They were transferred to another aircraft. He said: "The engine did not shut down.

"The pilot noticed some vibration over the British coast. We have an engineering centre at Gatwick so our operations told the pilot to land there."