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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2018/dec/20/gatwick-airport-drone-travel-chaos-disruption-live-updates
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Gatwick airport disruption: police still trying to catch drones after flights cancelled - live | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Labour says the government has been too slow at address safety concerns about drones. | |
Shadow transport secretary, Andy McDonald said: “Events at Gatwick Airport highlight the urgent need for clear rules on the use of drones near airports. There has been growing concern over the increasing number of near misses between drones and manned aircraft and the government has been too slow to act. | |
He added: “The government should fast-track the introduction of a regulatory framework to protect against the misuse of drones and ensure the safety of UK airspace. This should include a drone exclusion zone around airports.” | |
Transport minister, Baroness Sugg, is due to give a statement about the disruption at Gatwick, in an update to the House of Lords at 11.35am. | |
I have just granted a PNQ from Baroness @jennyranderson to ask @transportgovuk Minister, Baroness Sugg, what the HMG response is to the disruption at @Gatwick_Airport caused by drone activity. Watch from 11.35am here: https://t.co/86Hwdwg8GN #drones #Gatwick | |
Sussex Police is asking for the public’s help in locating the Gatwick drone operator. | |
#GatwickDrones | We are appealing for information to help us identify the operators of the #Gatwick #drones. If you know who's responsible or have any information please call 999 and quote ref 1350-19/12. Please RT pic.twitter.com/jkcakBohMr | |
There is barely enough space for passengers to navigate trolleys piled high with luggage around the check-in desks , as passengers just arriving at the airport are told on information screens that there would be no flights until at least 11am. Arthur Serbejs, 22, and Domante Balciuniate, 21, factory workers from Hastings, sat on the floor by a prayer room, approaching their 16th hour of waiting for a flight to Barcelona. | |
“We came about 6pm yesterday, and we’re going to be here until like 7pm,” Serbejs said. “At 9pm yesterday we were on the plane for four hours - they turned the lights off and everything like it was going to take off.” | |
“But we were still sitting there,” Balciunate added. Serbejs said he had fallen asleep while the plane sat on the apron, hoping to wake up in Spain, “and I woke up and we hadn’t moved.” | |
Eventually they were taken off the flight, and offered a hotel in Brighton, which they declined as they live close by. They were told they would get an email with a ticked for another flat, but none came. “We stood in line for three hours for a 30 second conversation saying ‘your flight has already been transferred hours ago’, but we didn’t know about it,” Serbejs said. | |
“It’s crazy, it’s my worst airport experience.” | |
“We don’t even expect to go to Barcelona anymore,” Balciunate said. “Maybe there’s another drone up there - but we have hope. There’s a prayer room over there, we were thinking about going.” | |
"Maybe there's another drone up there, but we have hope. There's a prayer room over there, we were thinking about going."Domante Balciunate, 21, and Arthur Serbejs, 22, who are at #gatwick in the middle of an expected 25-hour delay to their long weekend in Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/CgqYQlPSdH | |
PA has also been talking to some of the thousands of passengers disrupted by the incident. | |
Chris Lister, from Somerset, who owns an online business, was travelling back from Kiev with his wife Freya. | |
He was due to land at Gatwick at 9.45pm on Wednesday but ended up trapped on the plane on the tarmac at Birmingham Airport until 6am. | |
“There were quite a few babies and kids on board, I think they were struggling more than we were and one woman had run out milk,” he said. After starting his journey in Bangkok on Tuesday he was finally let off the plane at 6am, he said. Joseph Ouechen, a photographer from Morocco, was due to fly into Gatwick on Wednesday night but had his flight diverted to Paris. | |
After arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport at midnight, passengers with visas for the Schengen area were taken to a hotel but those without - “about 20%” - were left in the airport to fend for themselves, he said. | |
“There were families with babies who couldn’t get to their suitcases for their milk and stuff,” he said. “We were asking just for a favour if (airport staff) could help but they said they couldn’t do anything.” Firefighters eventually crossed the border through passport control with blankets and water at 3.30am, he said. | |
“To be honest, I’m so tired and when the guys from the fire (service) came with the bottles and blankets I was feeling like a war, like (I was) a refugee, but I’m just flying to the UK. | |
“It’s surreal. I was flying to the UK and now there are firemen bringing me water and blankets.” | |
Mamosta Abdulla said he was on an Iraq-bound flight on Wednesday evening before getting stuck on the tarmac for four hours. He will miss his father’s memorial service, he said. | |
“We got here at 6pm and should have flown at 9.10pm, but we were stuck four hours on the plane with a crying baby, the child was disabled and everyone was sweating because it was so hot in there,” he said. Passengers were given a 12 voucher for food, he added, but were left to sleep “in a freezing place on uncomfortable chairs”. | |
“We are in Iraq with bombs going off nearby and the plane still lands. But here some drones have shut down the airport.” | |
Sussex Police confirmed there are no indications to suggest the drone incident is terror related. | |
#GatwickDrones | We are carrying out a joint search w/ @Gatwick_Airport for the operators of #drones sighted at #Gatwick. Public safety is paramount and we will take all available actions to disrupt this deliberate act. There are no indications to suggest this is terror related. pic.twitter.com/J36d0Xzo2G | |
Supt Justin Burtenshaw, Gatwick Airport policing commander, is in charge of trying catch the drone operator. | |
Speaking to BBC News, he said: “We are still getting sightings of the drone in and around the airfield. I have got over 20 units from Surrey and Sussex and from the airport searching for the drone operator. We are exploring other options to try and bring this situation to a close.” | |
He said the police believe operator is deliberately trying to disrupt the airport, but there has been no intelligence that this is a terrorist incident. | |
Burtenshaw, a former head of armed policing at Sussex and Surrey, added: | |
“Each time we believe we get close to the operator the drone disappears when we look to reopen the airfield the drone reappears, so I’m absolutely convinced it is a deliberate act to disrupt Gatwick airport. | |
There has been no intelligence that this is going to happen. This is just a random act that has happened overnight. | |
“I’m convinced we will [capture the operator]. It is a painstaking thing. The bigger the drone the further the reach of the operator so it is a difficult and challenging thing to locate them. But I’ve got teams and investigators looking at how we do that and I’m confident we will. | |
"I'm absolutely convinced it's a deliberate act to disrupt #Gatwick Airport" - Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw says more than 20 police units are searching for the drone operatorhttps://t.co/wDW0Rtnkq1 pic.twitter.com/Fh98WmaCjL | |
More than 13 hours after a drone was first spotted over Gatwick the police are still trying to bring it down. | More than 13 hours after a drone was first spotted over Gatwick the police are still trying to bring it down. |
Transport minister Baroness Sugg “The police are working to bring the drone down, and I am confident that they will do so.” | Transport minister Baroness Sugg “The police are working to bring the drone down, and I am confident that they will do so.” |
She added: “Our priority is to get that airport open as safely as possible so that people can fly off on their Christmas breaks, or people who are coming in to visit friends and family.” | She added: “Our priority is to get that airport open as safely as possible so that people can fly off on their Christmas breaks, or people who are coming in to visit friends and family.” |
Various techniques are available for combatting drones, including eagles: | Various techniques are available for combatting drones, including eagles: |
And a signal jamming Sky Fence that has been successfully deployed around Guernsey prison. | And a signal jamming Sky Fence that has been successfully deployed around Guernsey prison. |
Anti-drone technology could be introduced in English prisons | Anti-drone technology could be introduced in English prisons |
LNER is offering those whose flights have been cancelled between Edinburgh and Gatwick free rail travel. | LNER is offering those whose flights have been cancelled between Edinburgh and Gatwick free rail travel. |
Has your flight between London #GatwickAirport and Edinburgh been cancelled today? If so, you can use your flight tickets to travel on our trains today for FREE. #HomeforChristmas 🎅 https://t.co/iEB3oRh2Nv | Has your flight between London #GatwickAirport and Edinburgh been cancelled today? If so, you can use your flight tickets to travel on our trains today for FREE. #HomeforChristmas 🎅 https://t.co/iEB3oRh2Nv |
Suzanne Donnelly, Commercial Director at LNER, said: “We know how important it is to get to where you’re going and are delighted that we are able to step in and help out.” | Suzanne Donnelly, Commercial Director at LNER, said: “We know how important it is to get to where you’re going and are delighted that we are able to step in and help out.” |
And EasyJet is offering free flight transfers. | And EasyJet is offering free flight transfers. |
Customers on cancelled flights will be entitled to a free of charge transfer to an alternative flight. Whilst the situation is outside of our control we would like to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience caused. | Customers on cancelled flights will be entitled to a free of charge transfer to an alternative flight. Whilst the situation is outside of our control we would like to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience caused. |