Mr Brown had been due to fly to Turkey with his wife

Dave Brown, 58, from Middlesbrough, had to abandon his holiday after he could not fit into any of the seats.

He said he had contacted operator Thomas Cook three times and was told there would not be a problem.

It said seats had been allocated but the crew had realised extra space was needed and had acted for safety reasons and a full refund had been offered.

Mr Brown, who is 6ft 6ins tall, had booked the holiday to Turkey for his wife Margaret, who had spent much of the last year in hospital.

'Safety requirements'

They arrived at Newcastle Airport four hours before the flight and Mr Brown said they were told again there would not be an issue. But problems arose once they boarded the plane.

Mr Brown said: "Everybody knew that because of my weight I couldn't fit on the plane and that was making me really bad.

"I was just sweating, going all white and everything else."

In a statement, Thomas Cook Airlines said: "We spoke directly with Mr Brown a month prior to his flight, and following the information he provided to his medical questions, we pre-allocated medical seats at the front of the aircraft to provide additional space.

"Once on the aircraft, our crew realised additional space would be required. Our crew were unable to seat the party in comfortable manner to comply with safety requirements for taxi, departure and take-off.

"As a gesture of goodwill a full refund has been offered. Whilst we understand the distress the situation may have caused Mr Brown, we would like to highlight that at all times we acted purely for his and other passengers' safety and comfort."