Sweety
The 12 hours number is a direct quote from the prosecutor in the court case taken from the BBC link posted by Bluelabel earlier in this thread.
Newswatcher
I'm quoting partly from news reports on the trial - taking care only to believe the direct quotes in the articles. I'm quoting partly from a well trusted source who was on the aircraft - and who was not a suspect at any stage!
I think I perhaps didn't make myself clear in terms of what I meant by 'harshly treated'. I wasn't saying that they were roughed up by the police or otherwise maltreated in that respect - but I was saying that being detained for 6 hours and escorted to the toilet by a policeman is rather unfair when you are a witness, not a suspect. It also seems unfair that no alternative air transport was arranged. For those readers unfamiliar with UK geography it should be pointed out that a Cardiff - Glasgow coach trip is around 8 - 10 hours, as opposed to just over an hour flying time.
With regard to the supporters flying up next day, my source tells me there were enough of them on the plane for the BMI Baby crew to realise that it was not a 'normal' passenger loading. He tells me there was some light hearted banter with the cabin crew about the circumstances of their travelling - which the crew were aware of before the doors were closed, so giving plenty time to decide to refuse to take them. Are any BMI Baby crew reading this - care to comment on numbers involved, or demeanour of said passengers?
As for the 'delay' that is a direct quote from the prosecutor and tallies exactly with what my source had already told me. The situation on the aircraft was that the captain was notified that an unidentified passenger had been smoking in the toilets; he then made an announcement to the passengers that unless the culprit owned up, all passengers would be detained at Glasgow until either the passenger owned up, or police were involved. Hence the inevitable delay to be added to the already substantial delays caused by technical issues.
It was at this stage that an argument started - with many passengers keen to express their displeasure at yet another threatened delay to their journey. The prosecution explained that it was two of these passengers who had pled quilty to behaving in a threatening, abusive, or disorderly manner.
I hope this clarifies things, and as I said earlier, I'd be interested to hear more opinions on my earlier points?