A SUSPECTED "football hooligan" was arrested at Heathrow Airport as he tried to make his way to Portugal to watch the Euro 2004 championships.

Blackburn Rovers fan Stephen Collins is now contesting police moves to get a Football Banning Order preventing him travelling to watch England play.

Until a full hearing of the application, Collins, who has no previous convictions, has been ordered to surrender his passport and been banned from travelling outside England and Wales.

He was one of 17 Blackburn fans who were the subject of football banning order applications in April when the police were criticised by a district judge for the lateness of the applications.

The new application is made under a different section of the Football Disorder Act 2000 and Susan McLane, for the Chief Constable, said it was designed to fast-track the making of an order.

She said Collins, 20, of Alpine Close, Hoddlesden, was arrested by members of the Metropolitan Police force at 11 am on Friday shortly before he was due to board a flight for Madrid.

"A check was made with the Police National Computer which revealed he was someone Lancashire Constabulary were interested in with regards to football hooliganism and disorder," said Miss McLane. "He told police he was heading for Portugal where he was due to collect tickets for the England game against France."

She said Collins was detained and Lancashire police sent a summons which detailed 11 incidents in which he had been involved with other football supporters, including an attempt to go to an international match in Gothenburg last year, flying from Glasgow.

Jonathan Taylor, defending, said Collins had booked his tickets for Euro 2004 in December before the start of any proceedings against him.

"He is a man who has no previous convictions and had every right to travel to Portugal," said Mr Taylor. "He resists both the applications for a Football Banning Order but does not oppose the surrender of his passport or the other travel restriction. He no longer wants to go to Portugal."

All 17 respondents in the civil proceedings for Football Banning Orders are resisting the police applications and a "deal" under which they would have surrendered their passports for the duration of the European Championships in return for the applications being dropped was rejected.

Their cases have been adjourned until July 8 when trial dates will be set and the latest proceedings against Collins were adjourned until the same date.

Mr John Sandiford, for the Chief Constable, said it had been a condition of the deal that the police "abandoned" all the evidence they had collected over the last three years.