- Families forced to wait hours without food or heating at Bergerac Airport
Ryanair passengers were forced to take shelter in a barn after a bomb scare at a French airport caused travel chaos.
Families preparing to board a Ryanair flight from Bergerac to London Stansted were ushered into cold and damp agricultural buildings loaded with tractors and equipment.
It is understood the departure had already been delayed by a technical problem with the plane when the bomb scare occurred.
A Ryanair source blamed a ‘hoax security threat’ and confirmed ‘passengers were temporarily moved to a nearby facility while the airport was assessed’.
Concerned grandmother Jackie Walker said her young grandson was made to wait for hours in the barn with no food or heating.
She added: ‘They are all very wet and cold.
‘As a grandparent I am incredibly concerned about my grandsons wellbeing.
‘He suffers many severe medical issues and he has not been helped at all.’
Another passenger Joanna Leggett took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to post pictures of them waiting in the fire service hanger at the airport, saying: ‘Bomb scare at Bergerac Airport we are in the pompieres (firefighters) hanger waiting for bomb squad to arrive from Bordeaux , plane broke we were supposed to take off this morning at 9.26.’
Another passenger added: ‘Ryanair pretty much told us to go f*** ourselves and find our way home and closed Bergerac Airport
The flight was supposed to leave at 9.25am but the plane didn’t depart until 5.15pm, eight hours later than planned.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: ‘Due to a hoax security threat at Bergerac Airport (26 Oct) passengers were temporarily moved to a nearby facility while the airport was assessed.’
In a statement posted on social media this afternoon Bergerac Airport Dordogne Périgord said: ‘Please do not attempt to access the airport. You will be informed via these channels of any developments.’