THE mother of a young rugby star has hit out at the airport firefighters who left his county selection dream in tatters.

It might even have cost him an international call-up.

Luke Jones, 15 (pictured), was over the moon when he found out he had been put forward for the Hampshire trials. He had been due to fly to Southampton at 10am on Sunday.

But Flybe had to cancel its flights when an airport firefighter called in sick the day after an agreement to cover sickness absences had expired – a coincidence that mum Tina Jones called ‘convenient’.

‘It is my son’s dream to be a professional rugby player. This is people’s lives they are messing with,’ said Mrs Jones, 44, a beauty therapist.

‘There was no warning at all. They boarded the flight and the first I knew was when my husband phoned at 10.20 to say they were still in Guernsey. I thought he was joking.’

La Mare de Carteret pupil Luke was travelling with his father, Peter, 45, and friend Jordan Gilvear, who attends St Sampson’s High.