Water supply has been restored to most of Gatwick airport after passengers spent hours without access to working toilets, and bars and restaurants were closed. Most toilets had reopened across both terminals on Sunday evening, with the remaining facilities, including bars and restaurants, expected to return to normal for the first of Monday’s flights.
Although flights were unaffected, toilets in both terminals were out of use, cafes, restaurants and bars were shut, and taps were either not running at all or running with low pressure since Sunday morning. Announcing that the water, supplied by SES Water, had been restored, Gatwick airport said: “Following an issue at the Bough Beech water treatment works which impacted the local area today, we are pleased to report that the water supply has now returned to the vast majority of the London Gatwick campus. Most toilet facilities are now open and we expect all toilets – as well as food and beverage outlets – to be open for tomorrow’s first flights.”
The problem also had an impact in the wider Sussex and Kent area, with interruptions to water supplies in parts of the TN11, RH1, RH6 and RH10 postcode areas. At 2pm the company had said its Bough Beech water treatment works were running again but the water needed to be treated before services could return to normal.
One traveller heading to New York said: “I’ve never seen Wetherspoons empty.” Former MP and newly appointed government “music champion” Michael Dugher wrote on social media: “At least allow people to use the chairs in all the closed restaurants and bars. No water is one thing, but depriving people of somewhere to sit is another … Families are having to sit on the floor.” Roger Wood, from Tunbridge Wells, arrived at Gatwick’s south terminal and said: “There was no communication. We met friends at the bar but they couldn’t serve us as they were unable to wash their hands.”
Source: infohub.kz