Gatwick runway closed after ‘pothole appears’ forcing flights to be diverted
Flights to and from the airport suffered major disruptions as while workmen frantically dealt with the hole in the main runway
PASSENGERS were left stranded after Gatwick was forced to divert and cancel scores of planes - after a pothole opened in the runway.
Flights to and from the airport suffered major disruptions as while workmen frantically dealt with the hole in the middle of the main runway.
Thousands of passengers were left stranded airside, while 17 flights were diverted to other airports.
Many passengers took to social media to complain about the disruptions, on Sunday.
Angelica Malin said: "Our flight to @Gatwick_Airport has landed in Stansted because of a hole on the runway... Interesting."
17 planes were diverted to other airports including Bournemouth, Heathrow, Luton, Stansted and Nottingham.
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One passenger, Jo Gilbert, was supposed to be travelling to Barcelona but her flight was cancelled and she says that she and other passengers were effectively being "held hostage" in the North Terminal.
On Sunday she said: "My flight to Barcelona was cancelled at 4.50pm and we've been here in the terminal since. They're not letting anyone out.
"Everyone is losing their cool. We have a PR lady booking flights for us but we have to go out and go through security again to get on a flight - but we can't do that because no one will let us out.
"We're essentially being held hostage."
The runway was closed due to damage to the tarmac, but an airport spokesman has admitted they "do not know the reason for the damage".
Aircraft used an emergency runway for approximately one hour and a spokeswoman for Gatwick Airport confirmed that the relevant airport authorities have launched a full investigation into the incident.
She said: "Our main runway was temporarily closed at 3.48pm while we investigated a reported issue; it is now open.
"We switched our operation to the northern runway to keep flights departing and arriving from Gatwick.
"17 flights had to be diverted to other airports.
"At the moment we do not know the reason for the damage or what the damage was. We are still investigating.
"There will, however, be some delays to flights and cancellations because of this.
"The safety and security of our airport and passengers is our number one priority, but we'd like to apologise to passengers impacted today.
"Passengers should check with their airline as to the status of their flight."
Another passenger Grace Lambe, was meant to be flying to Belfast, described the chaotic scenes at the North Terminal and slammed the lack of information being given to passengers who were stranded.
She said: "We haven't been able to get near the information point. From other people that have got near they've said that they are waiting for someone to tell us what's happening, but we probably won't get another flight until tomorrow.
"Everyone's just standing around waiting for information. Information staff seem to be getting dog's abuse, but I feel sorry for the staff, as I don't think they are being given much information themselves."
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