Queue-skipping holidaymakers sparked fury among travellers stranded at an airport all night after spelled misery for many. Airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester were impacted by the failure on Tuesday evening, which saw huge queues build up at arrivals halls across the country. One woman who got caught up in the chaos was Laura Howes, whose dreamy week away in Portaventura on the Canary Islands ended with a bump when she arrived at Stansted Airport two hours She endured a miserable night queuing for a space on a National Express coach home which never materialised, having missed the last train and watched in horror as the prices of an Uber back to London shot up from £70 to £200.
"I was trying to catch the last train but knew we were cutting it fine. The pilot said don't hold your breath," she told the Daily Star, before recalling the moment she was confronted by the mega-queue at passport control. "It wasn't a line, it was a river of people.
Sometimes it was stagnant, it was a never ending flow." Although the line cleared very quickly when the gates finally opened, the last train had gone and the clamour for a seat on a coach or a taxi ride was enormous. "So many people were stranded and National Express only ran two coaches, at 2.
30am and 4.30am, into London," Laura said. "People bought tickets and weren't allowed on the coach.
There was a real drama around that. People slipped into their seats in front of them. So .
