Holidaymakers endure travel chaos after thunderstorms

HOLIDAYMAKERS were left stranded or stuck in five-hour-long queues as they tried to get away for the summer holidays yesterday, with thunderstorms causing delays.

Families had to wait more than five hours at the Eurotunnel as the extreme weather conditions caused the service to run at half capacity.

Travellers at Stansted Airport were left sleeping on the floor after Ryanair cancelled 14 flights due to Friday night’s thunderstorms and air traffic control staff shortages.

Birmingham, Manchester, Luton and Gatwick airports were also hit by delays and cancellations, with Heathrow suffering minor delays.

Tom Happold, director of digital content agency Happen, was with his family at Stansted and ended up missing his flight due to long queues.

“I’ve missed my flight with my family. I’ve got two kids with me and my wife,” he told Sky News.

“It’s complete chaos here. There’s lots of arguments, babies crying, lots of pushing and shoving.”

Travellers heading to the Continent were left stuck in their cars as traffic came to a standstill on the M20 and A20 heading to Dover and Folkestone.

Eurotunnel warned of delays of about two and a half hours for cars and five hours for lorries at its terminal near Folkestone, Kent, but some passengers complained of having to wait more than five hours.

The cross-Channel operator cancelled thousands of tickets after the “extreme temperatures”. Delays were blamed on the air conditioning breaking down. It said it hoped the service would return to normal by today.