Nick Ferrari Grills Senior Cop Over Gatwick Airport Drone Chaos

21 December 2018, 08:48

Nick Ferrari grilled a senior police officer over why it took over 30 hours to get Gatwick Airport’s runway back open - and it was very awkward.

There has been chaos at Britain’s second largest airport since Wednesday night after drones forced the runway to shut down.

A limited service has resumed this morning but passengers are still being warned to check their flight status before travelling to the airport.

The drone pilot responsible is still at large, but they have been warned they will face a tough prison sentence.

Sussex Police assistant chief constable Steve Barry said the drone could be shot out the sky if it appeared again.

“We are much better positioned today than we were yesterday,” he told Nick on Friday morning.

“We’ve got a significant number of measures in place, so if a drone is spotted today we have got options available to detect it and mitigate the threat.”

Unimpressed, Nick replied: “What were you and your colleagues doing all day yesterday then?”

The police officer responded: “Getting resources and the options available at Gatwick Airport, making sure they worked and deploying them on the ground.”

He added the force now had a range of options available from “sophisticated” to “less sophisticated”.

“Have you got the armed unit there?” Nick asked.

“We do have the option available to use police resources to shoot the drone,” he said. “Should the option become available.”

Meanwhile, in the latest statement, a Gatwick spokesman said: “A limited number of aircraft are taking off and landing at Gatwick this morning but our departures and arrivals rate is currently very restricted to just a few runway movements every hour so passengers must expect delays and cancellations again today.”