Passengers at Gatwick Airport faced chaos on Sunday as a major water outage closed toilets, bars and restaurants — leaving families sitting on the floor and long queues building outside lavatories.
Water returned to "the vast majority of the London Gatwick campus" by Sunday night, the airport said, after a power failure at SES Water's Bough Beech treatment works caused the supply loss in both terminals. The water company, which also serves parts of Kent, Surrey and south London, said the outage was "a highly unusual and complex issue" that led to low pressure or temporary loss of supply for some customers.
“Gatwick water outage leaves passengers facing closed toilets and bars; supply restored by evening.”
Earlier, passenger Paul Lee told the BBC he had heard no announcements about the problem and hadn't seen bottled water being distributed, despite Gatwick saying staff were handing it out. "For people who need to go to the toilet, this isn't good, and still no announcement or official information," he said, adding that restaurants and lounges were shut but shops remained open.
Former MP and ex-CEO of UK Music Michael Dugher wrote on social media that the airport should "at least allow people to use the chairs in all the closed restaurants and bars". He said: "No water is one thing but depriving people of somewhere to sit is another... families are having to sit on the floor."
Gatwick apologised and said staff were handing out bottled water, with some restaurant partners opening to provide extra seating. Additional teams were deployed across both terminals. The airport stressed there were no flight cancellations due to the issue and said it was working closely with SES Water to minimise impact. "Our teams are working hard to reopen toilets and other facilities as quickly and safely as possible," a spokesperson said.
SES Water confirmed its treatment works were back up and running by Sunday afternoon but warned it would take time for the network to fully return to normal. "We want to reiterate that our teams are working as quickly as they possibly can and we are grateful for everyone's patience," the spokesperson added.
The incident left passengers frustrated, with many unaware of the scale of the problem until they arrived at the airport, raising questions about communication during such disruptions.