Gatwick Airport chaos as staff are forced to write flight information on whiteboards after technical glitch

Air passengers were facing chaos at Gatwick today as staff were forced to write out flight information on whiteboards after a technical glitch.

Frustrated passengers were pictured gathering around boards filled with handwritten messages to find out their flight information.

Flustered airport workers also yelled out gate numbers to try and make sure passengers made their flights on time, witnesses said.

The screens were out of use from about 7am on Monday morning and were still not up and running three hours later. Some holidaymakers have missed their flights.

Gatwick Airport said it was trying to resolve the issue as quickly as possible with staff at the terminal updating passengers.

A spokesman apologised to customers and said “a handful” had missed flights.

Holidaymaker Gina Murrin, who was left battling against swarms of information to get a look at the makeshift departure boards, said: “The boards aren’t working so they’re using a whiteboard to show the flight times but the crowd around it is ridiculous.

“You can see the information if you wait long enough for people to move but no-one at the front is moving so people are resorting to taking photos or asking others to tell them.”

She said although there were airport staff on hand to update flight information, it was “pretty difficult” to get near to them due to the huge amount of people.

Some passengers have been left confused, wandering around the airport terminal to try and find their gate amid Monday morning's technical chaos.

While some reported that staff were shouting out the destinations to a large crowd gathered around the whiteboard.

Susan Smith said: "My flight showed one gate, so I walked there where another flight was boarding.

"Walked back to the board...different gate. Flight not showing on my new gate. Very disconcerting!"

Kirsty Malpass praised the staff's use of a whiteboard: "Well done Gatwick Airport. All the information screens down.

"Could be chaos but thanks to an old school whiteboard and a LOT of people scurrying around with markers and erasers it is surprisingly calm and ordered."

A Gatwick spokesperson said: “Due to an ongoing issue with Vodafone - a provider of IT services for Gatwick - flight information is not being displayed correctly on the airport's digital screens and is currently displayed manually in the terminals.

"Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers affected and expects Vodafone to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

A spokeswoman for Vodafone said they had found a damaged fibre cable which was used by the airport to display information.

She added: “Our engineers are working hard to fix the cable as quickly as possible. This is a top priority for us and we are very sorry for any problems caused by this issue. We are keeping Gatwick Airport constantly informed of progress.”