EU citizen caught up in post-Brexit backlog is removed from Britain

A European Union citizen caught up in a Home Office backlog of applications for post-Brexit residency has been forcibly removed from the UK.

- Lisa O'Carroll

Costa Koushiappis, 39, a Greek Cypriot, was put onboard a plane to Amsterdam with only three days' notice. Speaking as he was being escorted onto the aircraft in Edinburgh shortly before 9am yesterday, he said he could not understand his unfolding nightmare.

"I am here with the Border Force," Koushiappis said. "They have all my documents. I can't talk about how I feel because if I do I will have a breakdown."

When it became clear late on Thursday night that his lawyer was unable to get the Home Office to reverse the Border Force decision, his friends came to help him pack up.

His employer at the motorbike franchise Two Wheels, Stuart West-Gray, described what had happened as a "disgrace".

He said: "I spoke to him this morning. He said the Border Force officials who had escorted him were very good to him and told him he had conducted himself very well, had adhered to the bail conditions and they didn't have to come look for him this morning.