Honeymoon couple among hundreds stranded in airport

Chris and Vicky Robinson, from Stranraer, got married last weekend and were looking forward to a luxury holiday in the Maldives when heavy snow closed the airport on Wednesday.

Instead of enjoying 30C heat in the Indian Ocean, they spent the night in chairs in Glasgow Airport’s main terminal – catching a few hours sleep as they waited for news on a rescheduled departure.

Mr Robinson, 29, said: “We were about to board the plane yesterday at 1pm, and 15 minutes before we were to take off they cancelled it and we’ve been here since (in the terminal), slept here with a lack of information through the night.

“It was very subdued, people were quiet and a bit confused because there wasn’t much information.

“We’d heard about camp beds and blankets, but we got no information about that.

“There’s been more information this morning, I know it’s been tricky for (the airport) because of maybe a lack of workers and it’s difficult for everyone.”

Mrs Robinson, 27, said she had shed a few tears on Wednesday.

“If we don’t get away by tonight then we’ll probably not go because it’s only a week we’re going for and it’s too far to go for any less than that really,” she said.

“There was tears to start with but there’s not much you can do.

“We had the perfect wedding so you can’t ask for everything.

“My suitcase isn’t going to work out for this weather in Glasgow for a week so we might need to go home.”

The airport said it has faced an unprecedented weather situation amid the Met Office red alert on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Many staff also stayed at the airport overnight to help with the situation, and runway teams have been working since Tuesday night to try to clear flight paths.

The airport and airlines were able to find some hotel rooms for passengers stranded in Glasgow, but many slept in the terminal with others camping in a conference room of the nearby Holiday Inn hotel.

Robin Wright, from Midlothian, described the situation as a “total nightmare” after spending the day at the airport with her husband and two young children after their flight to Dubai was cancelled.

“We’re just in limbo,” she said.

“We’ve been here since yesterday afternoon with our six-month-old son and daughter, Esme.

“We had little help at the beginning, there was nowhere to sterilise Theo’s bottles or get hot water and eventually last night about 11pm we got a room in the Holiday Inn and they gave us camp beds and some blankets.

“The kids had nothing to eat with the shops closed and it’s just been a total nightmare.”

Others put up in the hotel conference room included Thomas and Mhairi Mennie from Glasgow who were supposed to be flying to Cyprus.

Mr Mennie said: “We were shivering all last night, I’m 80 years of age and my wife is 76, and we couldn’t find an airline rep to help us.

“There was good company at least in the room and we had a good laugh.

“But we’re not even interested in the holiday now, we just want to get home and get a good night’s sleep and a bit of heat.”