TWO passenger planes were in a 'near miss' off the Essex coast after instructions were given to the wrong aircraft, an inquiry has found.

The planes came within 200m of each other before the mistake was corrected on April 1.

A UK Airprox report said the incident involved a Boeing 737 leaving Stansted and a Stansted-inbound Boeing 777.

It said the controller instructed the "wrong aircraft", leading it to "climb into confliction" with the B777.

It happened in the skies north-east of Southend and the risk was 'medium high'.

The report said the air traffic controller in the London control centre mistakenly transposed call signs and gave the instruction to the wrong aircraft.

The inquiry found at the time of the airprox, defined as a situation where safety of an aircraft is compromised, the "controller's workload was high".