Heathrow Airport has been thrown into "chaos" after a luggage belt stopped working causing some passengers to miss their flights.
Furious passengers stuck in the departure hall of Terminal 5 hit out at the airport after the British Airways luggage belts failed at around 6am this morning.
Passengers stuck in the airport found themselves in a lengthy queue following the fault.
A spokesperson for British Airways said that bags were still being checked in but manually, meaning passengers had to endure lengthy waits.
"We are working hard to minimise disruption after a baggage system issue has slowed down customers dropping off their bags," they said.
"We apologise for the inconvenience to our customers."
One woman, a cancer nurse set to enjoy some time off, found herself stuck in queues from 6am.
With 29 minutes to go before her flight she was still waiting for her bag to be manually tagged.
Sadly BA staff couldn't work quickly enough and the woman missed her flight.
"Yes Steph but still missed the flight," she wrote in a response to a BA adivisor.
"Booked on the next flight so will be spending a few hours of my holiday at T5. What a truly stressful morning for all - staff and passengers alike."
Many spoke out about the lack of information fed down from airport staff.
One frustrated Twitter user asked: "Do you seriously have no redundancy in the system?
"This is absolutely appalling for the newest terminal of them all would be great if you had some staff around to help - it’s everyone for themselves."
Another disgruntled passenger was comedian and Hollywood actor Eddie Izzard who spoke on behalf of those stuck in the queues.
"Luggage belts down at Heathrow Terminal 5," he wrote.
"I hope BA can get this moving soon as passengers have been waiting a long time now."
Some passengers stuck in the backlog managed to see the silver lining and praised staff for keeping cool in a stressful situation.
Others were appalled that a highly profitable airport could allow its baggage belts to fail in its flagship terminal.
"Entire bag system has been down for more than hour," one man wrote on Twitter.
"No one can drop their luggage. Great start to a holiday, not.
"Thanks British Airways! You deserve those £2+ billion profits!"
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “The BA baggage processing system in Terminal 5 has experienced a fault this morning meaning bags are being processed slower than usual.
"Other terminals at Heathrow have been unaffected and we are supporting BA to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience.”
