Hundreds of passengers expecting to land at Southend Airport were instead dropped as far away as London and Liverpool.

Easyjet passengers have spoken out about their “horrific experiences” last week as poor weather conditions forced aircrafts to divert landings to other airports.

However it was not so much the lengthy delays or alternative arrival points which caused the most anger but the lack of perceived support after being dropped many miles away.

Gary Homer, 59, of North Road, Southend, expected to fly home from Malta to Southend with his partner Erika Irwin, on Friday, May 31.

Minutes before landing passengers were informed they would instead be arriving at Gatwick.

Passengers on his plane were informed by the flight crew arrangements would be made to transport them back to Southend, however as soon as they disembarked, many people received messages from Easyjet informing them that despite it being almost 2am they would have to make their own travel arrangements.

Mr Homer said: “It was so frustrating, because it felt like they’d just given up all responsibility to look after their customers.

“We fly quite frequently from Southend because it is so convenient, and have three flights booked in the future, but this experience has really made us doubt our confidence in Easyjet.”

The couple eventually opted to take a taxi from Gatwick to Southend, and will be reimbursed.

Mr Homer said: “We had a lovely holiday, but now I just feel completely let down.”

Ria Phiri, 30, of Park Street, Westcliff, was hoping to travel home from a holiday in Malaga on June 1 with her young family, however, just as the plane was preparing to land, they began circling and 90 minutes later ended up landing in Liverpool instead.

They were then kept on the tarmac for over an hour, until tensions reached such a point a police escort arrived to accompany the pilot and crew off of the plane.

The family were then transferred to a hotel at the airport and picked up at noon the next day by a coach, which was originally sent to the wrong hotel.

Ms Phiri said: “We didn’t get anywhere near the service we were supposed to - it was horrific.

“The flight was absolutely packed with young children and people started to get really frustrated because we just felt trapped. We were even told by police we weren’t allowed to ask questions to staff.”

A spokesman for easyjet said: “Like other airlines, easyJet faced disruption due to low visibility and local thunderstorms across the UK which resulted in some airport restrictions.

"We were required to divert some flights. Unfortunately in both circumstances, due to the widespread disruption, easyJet was unable to provide onward coach travel to London Southend immediately.

"easyJet will be making contact to apologise for their experiences.”