‘Man detained’ at Gatwick airport as police cordon off parts of North Terminal
24 June 2022, 19:05 | Updated: 24 June 2022, 20:18
Police detained a man as they responded to a security alert at Gatwick airport.
Sussex Police cordoned off the drop-off parking area at the North Terminal.
Witnesses reported a large police presence with “dozens” of vehicles and armed police. One person said they had witnessed police dealing with a suspicious vehicle outside the terminal.
Holidaymakers hoping to catch flights have warned of “total chaos”.
One person caught in it wrote online: “is anyone going to advise passengers what they can do to catch their flights from north terminal. It’s absolute chaos and nobody is giving anyone information????”
Another wrote: "North Terminal is closed, shuttle not running. Police everywhere. Good luck everyone flying from the North Terminal".
Passengers said they had been ordered back into the terminal while others said they had been forced to try to walk from the South to the North terminal to try and catch their flights.
Sussex police later stood down the incident, saying: "We have stood down a cordon which was in place while we dealt with an incident at the drop-off area at Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal.
"A man has been detained in relation to the incident, which is not being treated as terror-related.
"We thank the public for their patience".
The incident caused traffic jams on the M23 westbound motorway, on Spur Rd, from just after Junction 9.
