Island-based passengers were caught up in the chaos of the drone incursion at Gatwick Airport.

Among them was John Drysdale, a chief product officer for an online travel business, who was stranded at Gatwick for 10 hours before deciding to make his way to Liverpool and get a flight from there the next morning.

Back home in Castletown, he said: ’The flight was due to go at 8am on Thursday so I was in the airport at 6am.

’I had picked up on the news the night before that the airport had shut at 9pm because of a drone incursion. I thought it would be resolved by the morning.

’I expected some knock-on delays but it became apparent that there was nothing moving whatsoever.

’More and more people were coming into the departure lounge.

’There were families all over the place, taking over corridors, under escalators. Children did not know what to do with themselves.’

Some passengers even got a gate number but got to the gate ready to board only to be told their flight was cancelled.

John said the airline handlers’ information desk was 30 deep with passengers.

’I got to the front of the queue a couple of times and told them I wanted to go to Liverpool but was told "no, you can’t as the flight is still on". It was just a waste of time.’

He realised the longer he held on, the more his options would diminish.

At 4pm, he left. Having no hold luggage, he was able to exit the departure lounge without any further hold-ups.

He booked a flight with easyJet from Liverpool and took the train to St Pancras and then got a train from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street.

It proved a good call. At 5pm, while he was on the train to London, he was notified that his Gatwick to Isle of Man flight had been cancelled.

He said: ’At that time they cancelled all flights for the day and chaos must have ensued as thousands of people would have had to file out through those gates to collect luggage and make their alternative arrangements.’

His wife Karen, meanwhile, had arranged a refund of his Gatwick flight and got easyJet to organise overnight accommodation at the Hampton by Hilton Hotel at Liverpool Airport.

He flew home to Ronaldsway the next morning.

’The situation wasn’t easyJet’s fault and it wasn’t Gatwick’s fault, although they could have handled it better. There has to be a way of getting people better informed and sooner,’ he said.

He said he feared the drone incursion showed it was ’open season’ for those intent on causing disruption to airports.

’We’ve gone into Iraq and Afghanistan but we can’t shoot down a drone over an airport because of the potential for stray bullets. It’s bizarre.’

This week’s joint Examiner & Independent reports on why an easyJet flight to the island on December 21 could not land at Ronaldsway. The paper is in the shops now.