Passengers were stuck on the tarmac for more than two hours in the middle of the night after their diverted plane was unable to refuel at Stansted Airport.

It was one of several flights diverted away from Gatwick Airport after a British Airways plane temporarily blocked its runway.

After the already-delayed plane landed at Stansted, EasyJet said there was a lack of ground handling staff and the plane couldn’t refuel. Passengers were only able to disembark after 03:00, and had to arrange their onward journeys with limited public transport options given the late hour.

The airline apologised “for the inconvenience caused by the diversion and delay in disembarking”.

“While we worked to make onward arrangements for customers, as no ground handling staff were available for the unscheduled arrival, the aircraft was unable to refuel and so customers disembarked in Stansted and were advised they would be reimbursed for their onward travel,” EasyJet added.

Passengers stuck on the aircraft, which had been travelling from Rome, were informed EasyJet was struggling to get any fuel to the plane. The airline has no arrangement with Swissport which had provided some fuel to another BA plane.

Sammy, a passenger on the diverted EasyJet flight, told the BBC she didn’t get home until around 06:00 because there were further delays in getting her luggage due to the lack of staff at Stanstead.

Sammy said: “I’m sitting there waiting in baggage claim and it’s on the screen and it says… ‘awaiting baggage’, something like that, and it just disappears, like it’s gone from the screen.

“But maybe 50 minutes to an hour goes past and a couple of people come out and basically get everyone’s attention – at about 04:30 at this point – and go: ‘Sorry, but there’s no one working that can get your bags’,” Sammy said.

Eventually staff turned up to get her baggage, but she says she was “so, so tired” by the time she got home around 06:00.

Other people on the plane got off at Stansted and had to make their own onward travel arrangements and claim back costs later. Sammy said there was also the option to get their luggage delivered to them if they didn’t want to wait.

The diversion came after a BA plane temporarily blocked a runway at Gatwick Airport after reportedly experiencing a landing gear issue.

Emergency services met the plane as a precaution upon landing, following reports of a “technical fault” with the aircraft.

BA said the plane landed safely and passengers disembarked normally.

A London Gatwick spokesperson said: “Earlier this morning, the runway was closed for a short period due to a technical issue with an aircraft.

“As a result, a small number of flights were diverted, with the majority later returning to London Gatwick. As always, safety and security is our number one priority.”

There were a number of delays to arrivals and departures from Gatwick Airport on Wednesday, although it was not clear if these were connected to the earlier runway closure.

In circumstances when flight disruption is considered to be the airline’s fault, you have a number of rights under UK law., external

These apply as long as you are flying from a UK airport on any airline, arriving at a UK airport on an EU or UK airline, or arriving at an airport in the EU on a UK airline.

What you are entitled to depends on what caused the cancellation and how much notice you are given.

If your flight is cancelled with less than two weeks’ notice, you may be able to claim compensation based on the timings of the alternative flight you are offered.

The amount you are entitled to also depends on how far you were travelling: