By Milo Boyd, The Mirror

Virgin Atlantic's gender-neutral uniform policy was ditched when the airline flew England football team's flight to Qatar to keep staff safe, the airline has said.

The crew working on the flight from Birmingham airport to the World Cup on Tuesday were required to wear uniforms based on their gender due to a risk-assessment by the carrier.

Virgin Atlantic introduced a "fluid" approach in September, which it said at the time gave staff the option of wearing its red or burgundy uniforms based on "how they identify or present themselves".

Virgin Atlantic said in a statement: "The safety and security of our people and customers is always our top priority.

"We're proud our leading gender identity policy allows our people to express themselves through uniform choice.

"As part of our policy, we complete a risk assessment on all countries we fly to, considering laws and attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community and expressions of identity on a case-by-case basis.

"Following a risk assessment, it was recommended the policy was not applied on today's charter flight to ensure the safety of our people."