A British Airways flight seen circling over the county before returning back to Heathrow had to dump fuel over the English Channel before it could land.

The Boeing 747, which was bound for Kenya, caused a stir as it was seen circling at low altitude around Canterbury for about 45 minutes.

Its landing gear had failed to retract properly, meaning it could not carry on its journey to Nairobi.

The airline said the technical issue was 'minor' and has apologised to customers for the disruption.

A tracking map online shows that the plane has been flying over Herne Common before banking round, heading over Wingham and then swooping round over Blean.

Having left Heathrow at 10.56am, the BA65 passenger plane was set to land in Kenya at 10.34pm.

Puzzled onlookers spotted the low-flying plane circling Canterbury late this morning.

British Airways confirmed the aircraft had a minor technical issue and returned to Heathrow.

However, the online flight tracker suggests that after stopping circling Canterbury, it began heading south west over Ashford.

It then circled Hastings for about 30 minutes before heading north over Tunbridge Wells as the pilot steered it back to the airport.

Heathrow confirmed the plane had landed safely shortly before 1pm.