Air delays bring police to Gatwick

Police were called on yesterday to calm holidaymakers stranded for more than 24 hours at Gatwick airport, outside London.

About 200 passengers, many of them children, grew increasingly angry at the delay caused by a technical problem, said police. The passengers complained they had been left in the dark by tour operators Thomson after flight ECA 815 was cancelled on Saturday morning to allow engineers to investigate strange noises coming from their aircraft as it taxied on the runway. One passenger, Judy Green, said: "No one has a clue about what's happening and people are becoming very fraught." Passengers were taken to hotels for the night - but as yesterday morning wore on some became so fed up that they went home.