Gatwick baggage system breaks down forcing passengers to wait ‘four hours’

Hundreds of passengers travelling through Gatwick Airport were forced to wait at least ‘four hours’ for their luggage after staff struggled to cope with the demand.

Holidaymakers from ten flights were left stranded into the early hours of this morning, with some claiming they were given no water and little information, The Sun reports. 

Passengers travelling in the north and south terminals were said to have been left waiting for at least four hours – with the average delay being half that.

The problem is thought to have started last night, and continued into the early hours, because of a shortage of baggage handlers at the London-based airport.

Gatwick Airport apologised for the situation which it said affected passengers from ten flights. 

A spokesman said: ‘This morning, Saturday, July 20, unfortunately ten flights at Gatwick waited on average two hours for their baggage to be returned, due to shortage of staff at Menzies, a baggage handling provider contracted by some of our airlines.

Passengers stand around waiting to collect their luggage following their flights landing in London-based Gatwick airport

‘We apologise for this disappointing and unacceptable wait our passengers experienced and we did all we could to make passengers comfortable in the meantime.’

It comes after thousands of British Airways passengers were left waiting at Heathrow Airport for several hours on Thursday after a fault in the baggage system.