QPR's Joey Barton among "angry" passengers in 12-hour easyJet ordeal

EasyJet passengers were left furious yesterday when their flight from London to Belfast was diverted to Glasgow.

Passengers were faced with a 12-hour delay and were forced to spend much of the night in Glasgow airport.

The 9.15pm flight from Gatwick Airport was due to arrive in Belfast at around 10pm on Sunday night but could not land due to runway maintenance, reports the BBC.

The passengers' ordeal started when the flight from London to Belfast International was at first, delayed.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, the flight didn't leave until 10.40pm and was expected to land an hour later. Passengers were then told they were unable to land due to "problems with the lights on the runway".

The plane was diverted to Glasgow, where the pilot initially told passengers they would refuel and go back to Belfast as the runway had reopened.

However, at about 01:30am, the pilot said it was no longer to safe to fly and passengers would have to spend the night in Scotland.

Passengers, including Queens Park Rangers footballer Joey Barton were said to be "very angry".

According to the BBC, passengers then spent an hour in the airport before vouchers were distributed and accommodation found.

To make things even worse, some passengers were then taken to the wrong hotel.

Belfast International Airport said: "Part of the runway was closed for planned maintenance last night.

"The pilot could have landed on the shortened section, however, the foggy conditions prevented this."

EasyJet apologised for the inconvenience caused.

In a statement, Easyjet said: "The safety and wellbeing of passengers is always Easyjet priority and we worked hard to secure hotel rooms, provide refreshment vouchers and transferred all passenger onto alternative flights free of charge.

"We would like to apologise to all passengers for any inconvenience caused by the delay."

The Consumer Council issued a statement that said although the Easyjet flight was "not significantly delayed in departure" the rerouting to Glasgow meant passengers were entitled to meals, free phone calls and overnight accommodation.

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