Beware all would-be terrorists plotting a repeat of last month’s attempted car bombing of Glasgow airport: Smeato is back at work.

John Smeaton, the baggage handler who delivered a flying kick to one of the two alleged suicide bombers and has become a cult sensation on the internet, was given a hero’s reception when he returned to work after a month of recuperation in which his story has travelled the globe.

A crowd of air stewardesses queued up to give him a peck on the cheek. Mr Smeaton, 31, who lives at home with his parents, said: “That was absolutely brilliant. I have never been surrounded by so many gorgeous women wanting to kiss me before.”

Described in the House of Commons as a one-man scourge of international terrorism and hailed by a web-site set up in his honour as so hard that he makes even onions cry, Mr Smeaton’s life has been transformed since his eyewitness account of the attack – in breathless Glasgow patois – was broadcast around the world.

Asked whether he had a message for the terrorists, he said at the time: “This is Glasgow – we’ll just set aboot ye.” Of the thought process that went through his head on seeing one of the alleged bombers lash out at police, he added: “You’re nae hitting the polis mate, there’s nae chance.” Looking slightly sunburnt as he sauntered past the scene of his heroics in a fluorescent yellow vest yesterday, he slowly made his way through a crowd of wellwishers and photographers as “Smeaton-mania” swept the terminal building. Kevin Casey, 30, of Dunbar-ton, one of the few who got to shake his hand, said afterwards: “It was such a thrill to actually meet him. The airport feels a safer place with him about.” Izzy McKeown, 28, a Thomas Cook air stewardess, confessed to feeling “a bit flushed” after planting a kiss on Mr Smeaton’s cheek. “A normal man won’t do for me any more,” she said. “He has to be a superhero.”

Despite getting ready for an eight-hour shift sorting luggage, Mr Smeaton, a senior ramp assistant at the airport, insisted that he was he was glad to be back at work. He said: “The last few weeks have been absolutely unbelievable. The best bit was when I got to stand up in front of all the Rangers fans at Ibrox. I never thought I would ever get to do that, and as a fan it was a dream come true.

“But there was no way I was ever going to give up this job. I can’t wait to see the rest of the lads. I’m going to get the biggest ribbing of my life when I start work.”

Mr Smeaton’s story made the pages of The Wall Street Journal, which described him as “a defacto spokesman for Glasgow’s fighting spirit”. A web-site set up in his honour has raised more than £2,000 from fans pledging to buy him a pint. Alex Salmond, Scot-land’s First Minister, will praise him at an official reception next month.

In his own words

“I did nothing special . . . I just ran in and booted a guy. I got a kick in . . . Other passengers were getting kicks in . . . Me and other folk were just trying to get the boot in and some other guy banjoed [decked] him”

Of the blazing 4x4

“The flames were going in two directions . . . You know when you’re younger, you put a can of Lynx [aftershave] on the fire, and it’s like a flame thrower”

Of one of the alleged terrorists

“He was massive and he was going straight for the polis. Instinct just kicked in. I heard myself saying, ‘That’s no right. He’s not hitting that copper, nae chance’.”

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