London, August 21: Britain's second busiest airport-Gatwick was forced to put up flight information on whiteboards due to an IT problem, as a result of which the digital screens failed, according to a Reuters report. The airport in a statement said, “Due to an ongoing issue with Vodafone - a provider of IT services for Gatwick - flight information is not being displayed correctly on the airport’s digital screens and is currently being displayed manually in the terminals. Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers affected and expects Vodafone to resolve the issue as soon as possible."

The chaos took place in the early hours of Monday morning, a fibre-optic cable used by Vodafone to carry flight departure information was severed, causing the screens to go blank, as per an Independent report. Airport authorities were forced to use whiteboards and shout instructions. In the middle of this confusion, more than 200 passengers missed their flights.

In 2013, a similar chaotic incident took place on Christmas Eve 2013, when flooding hit the power supply at Gatwick’s North Terminal, spoiling the travel plans of many thousands of passengers.

(With inputs from Reuters)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 21, 2018 05:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).