SPAIN’S president was grounded in Togo when the pilot discovered the air-speed indicator on the plane was not working.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had flown out to Togo’s capital, Lomé, from Madrid in a Spanish Air Force craft.

But after the potentially serious technical fault was discovered, take-off was aborted.

On evacuating the plane, the crew then discovered that the tyres had gone flat as a result of the heat.

Zapatero finally took off from the island last night at 23.15hrs, bound for Spain’s capital.