Passengers arriving at Stansted Airport have described waiting in long queues to reach immigration control after a power surge shut down its systems.

Traveller Jill Stakem reported the airport’s internal tram system had failed earlier and people were “being held in a corridor for over 90 minutes”.

Stakem added: “It’s horrendous. No communication, no seating for people, no-one offering watering.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Stansted Airport said: “Due to a power surge earlier today that affected the airport and local area, a number of airport systems were temporarily impacted.”

They added: “All systems are now back in service with operational teams working hard to provide support to passengers on their journeys through the airport.”

Another airport spokesperson confirmed the shuttle service “remained out-of-service due to a technical fault and contingency bussing is in operation to transfer passengers between the terminal and gates”.

The airport apologised “for any disruption and inconvenience they may have experienced while services were being restored”.

Stakem said the airport should have better contingency plans in place for such an occurrence.

Gilles Corby, who also contacted the BBC on Sunday afternoon, said: “Queues to passport control extend into the departure terminals.

“It has taken 45 minutes to reach the entrance of the actual immigration queue.”

Some trains to and from the airport were cancelled on Saturday after damage was caused to overhead power lines.

Last month hundreds of people were stuck in a corridor in the airport after a shuttle service for arriving passengers ceased operating.

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