A flight from London to Stockholm has been forced to do an emergency landing after receiving a reported bomb threat, The Independent reported.

Tom Onslow-Cole, a British racing driver, was among the 72 passengers and five crew on board Scandinavian Airlines flight 1530 on Friday.

He told The Independent that no one was aware the plane was being diverted to Landvetter Airport until it landed shortly before 10am (9am GMT) and they were told they had arrived at a different airport.

Mr Onslow-Cole said the Boeing 737-600 was parked at the end of the runway and everyone was taken off as police boarded to carry out searches.

“The captain made an announcement while we were in a holding area that it was something to do with a social media post,” he said.

“There was some confusion with a United Airlines flight number that is similar and apparently that’s where the threat came from.”

A Scandinavian Airlines source told The Independent the confusion was believed to have stemmed from “codesharing”, which means that United Airlines can sell the London-Stockholm flight under its own name.