A Boeing 747 set for Nairobi circulated the skies above Canterbury for about 45 minutes - before eventually returning to Heathrow and landing safely.

The plane, which is was at 6,400ft, was running in a continuous loop centring around the city.

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 with its landing gear still down late this morning.

British Airways has confirmed the aircraft has 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 in the last hour.