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Honeymoon couple spend night on airport floor

Kevin ShoesmithEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
News imageSam Stansfield A blonde woman wearing a white hoody lies on a blue foam roll mat with her husband next to her.Sam Stansfield
Sam Stansfield and her husband, Dan, bed down on the floor of London Stansted Airport on Tuesday

A couple who have waited a year to honeymoon in the Maldives are among tens of thousands of passengers stranded at UK airports.

Sam Stansfield said she and husband Dan should have left at 21:45 BST on Tuesday, but remain at London Stansted Airport, with Nats, the UK's air traffic services, blaming a technical glitch for widespread disruption.

The pair, from Lincoln, are now due to take off on Wednesday afternoon but will miss a connecting flight, further eating into their dream trip.

Sam, who said they spent the night "trying to sleep" on mats, added: "It's been horrendous. We are going all the way to the Maldives for about four days, but hey ho, it's better than Skegness."

News imageSam Stansfield A man with shaved brown hair and wearing a black T-shirt and shorts rests on a blue foam roll mat.Sam Stansfield
Dan grabs some sleep during the disruption

Sam, who is travelling in a personalised hoodie bearing their wedding picture, said she monitored events at Heathrow and Gatwick on the BBC News website, before realising "how big it [the disruption] was".

She said there was "no room to move" at the airport earlier.

"I was in tears," she said.

"They brought water around late at night and roll mats really late - at about 1am. It's horrible. We should be there [in the Maldives] now."

The couple only booked a relatively short trip due to not wanting to be away from their children for long and Sam's position as a childminder.

"I don't like to let people down," she said.

News imageSam Stansfield A woman is sitting on the floor wearing a white hoodie that has a picture of her and her husband from their wedding day on the right-hand side of it. Her hood is raised on her head and she is looking into the camera with a despondent expression.Sam Stansfield
Sam, wearing a personalised hoodie celebrating her wedding, is trying to stay positive despite the chaos

As the airport began to return to normal, the couple received an email informing them they are booked on a flight expected to depart at about 17:30 BST.

But the significant delay will mean they will miss a connecting flight from Abu Dabi, where they will have to wait a further six-and-a-half hours.

Martin Rolfe, the boss of Nats, has apologised for the disruption. He said there would be a full investigation, after the firm admitted resolving the issue had taken "longer than hoped".

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has summoned Rolfe to a meeting on Wednesday to answer questions about the disruption and response.

She is expected to tell MPs that a cyber attack was "categorically" not the cause of the fault.

Sam added: "I'm hoping we can laugh about it at some point."

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