Bangkok - Thailand on Wednesday denied entry to Gary Glitter after the former British glam rock star refused to board a plane to London after finishing a jail term in Vietnam for sexually abusing two preteen girls.

Glitter, who was put on board a Thai International Airways flight to Bangkok Tuesday after being released following two years and nine months in a Vietnamese prison, deplaned at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, where he refused to board his flight to London, claiming to be suffering chest pains.

"He is still in transit, doing nothing," said Lieutenant General Chatchawal Suksomjit, Thai immigration commissioner.

The immigration chief said that as long as Glitter remained in transit, it was the responsibility of Thai Airways to get him on a flight back to Vietnam or on to London.

"But he has said he will not go to London," Chatchawal said.

Glitter, 64, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was expected to be met by police in Britain to be entered into the national registry of sex offenders.

Glitter travelled by car Tuesday morning from Thu Duc prison in Binh Thuan province to Ho Chi Minh City, 100 kilometres to the west.

"He doesn't want to go back to the UK because he's had so many troubles there already," his attorney Le Thanh Kinh said Monday. "He wanted to go to another country, like Singapore or Hong Kong."

A Foreign Office spokesman in London said it was "a matter for Mr Gadd and the Vietnamese authorities" where Glitter went after he was deported.

But Britain's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has called on British authorities to stop Glitter from travelling abroad if he returns to Britain to prevent him from engaging in further sex tourism.

"It's not a done deal that he can go wherever he likes, given his record," said the group's policy adviser, Zoe Hilton. "I would hope that the authorities would make sure that he does not slip off to another country."

Glitter was arrested at the Ho Chi Minh City airport in November 2005 as he tried to catch a flight to Bangkok after being accused of sexually assaulting two girls, aged 11 and 12, in Vietnam.

He received a three-year sentence, which was reduced by three months during a Vietnamese New Year amnesty.

During his time in prison, Glitter was diagnosed with a heart problem, and he was expected to seek medical treatment in Britain.

Glitter's first arrest on charges related to child sex laws was in Britain in 1997 when thousands of images of child pornography were found on his computer after he took it to be repaired.

He was sentenced to four months in prison and served two before resettling in South-East Asia.

The British press tracked him down in Cambodia and Vietnam and wrote articles accusing him of abusing local children, which led to his arrest and conviction.

He became famous for his flamboyant costumes and behaviour during the glam-rock period and was known for hits like I'm the Leader of the Gang, Do You Wanna Touch Me, Hello! Hello! I'm Back Again, and I Love You Love Me Love.