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Whiteboards used as Gatwick flight info screens fail

Staff at Gatwick Airport have had to write information about flight departures on whiteboards after a technical issue means screens have failed.

Photos posted on social media showed people crowding around the boards to find out the latest on their flights.

Staff could also be seen rubbing out information as it changed to update it with black and red marker pens.

The screen failure is affecting both the North and South terminals at the airport.

Gatwick Airport tweeted: "We are sorry, but due to an IT issue our flight information is not displaying correctly. Please use the temporary flight boards in the departure lounges or listen for airline flight announcements.

"We are expecting to resolve the issue soon and apologise for the inconvenience."

There was frustration among some passengers who described walking to wrong gates or having their flights delayed.

A Gatwick spokesperson said a "handful of people had missed their flights" as a result of the problem.

August is one of the busiest periods of the year for the West Sussex airport as many families embark on summer holidays.

A user by the name of @helenwalsh tweeted: "Absolute carnage @Gatwick_Airport with no boards working and no staff with gate info."

@robfahey posted a photo of people waiting by a whiteboard and wrote: "This tiny whiteboard is the only departures information in Gatwick Airport right now; every screen is offline. Utter chaos. This is a signature flourish at the end of a short trip that's been full of reminders of how badly the UK's infrastructure is crumbling."

Other passengers praised the efforts of staff members for trying to keep the flight schedule on track.

The spokesperson told Sky News: "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 being displayed manually in the terminals.

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