Passengers fork out hundreds for cabs home after Wizz Air Cardiff flight diverts to Bristol

Passenger paid out £270 for a taxi back to Cardiff following three hours waiting on the tarmac

Bristol Airport says the responsibility for arranging onward travel for any diverted flights in the UK lies with the airline (PA)

Tired and angry travellers were forced to fork out hundreds of pounds on taxis home, claiming they were “abandoned” in Bristol Airport when their flight landed after a diversion to Cardiff.

The Wizz Air flight from Corfu to Cardiff had to divert to Bristol after an incident with a light aircraft at Cardiff Airport on Sunday 3 July.

The airfield was shut for nearly an hour after the aircraft went off the end of the runway during landing.

The Wizz Air flight was meant to arrive in Cardiff just after 1pm on Sunday, but passengers were left to wait on the Bristol Airport runway for several hours before finding out they would not be flying back to Cardiff at all and had to get off the plane.

Jason Edwards, 49, from Swansea, told Wales Online passengers were not given any food or water by the airline staff as they waited, and eventually had to find their own way back to Cardiff after being left stranded in Bristol Airport.

“They told us there had been an incident on the runway but they didn’t have any more information than that,” he said.

“They said they would circle the airport but only had about ten minutes’ fuel left, so after that they would have to land in Bristol to refuel.”

Passengers were initially told they would return to Cardiff once the plane had refuelled, but as time went on “people started getting angry”.

He continued: “We were told we would be going in about half an hour, and then it was a couple of minutes, and people started cheering.

“We were then told we were at the back of the queue for take off as Bristol hadn’t been expecting us, and that we had to wait longer.”

As the plane remained on the runway, people began to get increasingly frustrated, which culminated in an argument between some passengers, recalls Mr Edwards.

About three hours later, travellers were told the flight would not be heading to Cardiff and they would have to disembark in Bristol.

Initially they were told transport back to Cardiff would be organised, but according to Mr Edwards, no staff members from the airport or airline gave passengers any more information.

In the end, Mr Edwards paid £270 for a taxi back to Cardiff and arrived back home in Swansea almost 10 hours after he was originally meant to land in Cardiff Airport at 10pm.

He described the airline’s treatment of passengers as “unacceptable” and claimed they were “abandoned”, with passengers having to make their own way back to Cardiff.

Mr Edwards has since issued a complaint to Wizz Air, but has been told by the airline he will not receive any compensation as “the circumstances were outside their control”.

The Independent has contacted Wizz Air for comment.