Stansted Airport chaos leaves ‘hundreds stranded’ after security scanner breakdown
Written by News on 10/05/2017
Stansted Airport has apologised after a security scanner fault left "hundreds" of passengers stranded – with many missing their flights.
A problem with the X-ray machines emerged at around 4.30am on Tuesday but took nearly four hours to fix, according to a spokeswoman for the Essex airport.
There were reports of people fainting in huge queues, while passengers posted photographs of large crowds inside the terminal building on social media.
One traveller likened the scene at the airport to a "zombie apocalypse" while others said they were facing delays of up to 18 hours after missing flights.
One traveller, posting on Twitter with the username Kate-Elizabeth, wrote: "All the scanners went down at Stansted Airport.
"There was a huge pile up, staff didn’t prioritise the times of anyone’s flights and Ryanair didn’t hold the flight for all those delayed.
"It was still on the tarmac when we all eventually got to the gate only to be told we couldn’t board.
"Missed flight so now in another huge queue with loads of others trying to get another one. All staff completely unhelpful."
Another passenger, Meagan Tetro, tweeted: "Hundreds stranded at Stansted Airport due to their system failing. All missed flights and now stuck queuing."
She said she was in a queue with about 150 other people needing new flights, and described the situation as an "embarrassing show of service" from the airport and Ryanair.
She said she had been warned it could be 18 hours before the next available flight.
A Stansted spokeswoman said: "Due to a technical issue earlier this morning with a number of X-ray machines in the main security area, throughput capacity was reduced, taking extra time to process passengers.
"Engineers rectified the issue and additional measures were put in place to minimise the impact to passengers and assist them with their onward journey.
"We apologise for the inconvenience caused. The area has now returned to normal."
Stansted is the fourth busiest airport in the UK and is used by an average of 67,000 passengers each day.
(c) Sky News 2017: Stansted Airport chaos leaves ‘hundreds stranded’ after security scanner breakdown
