Olympian Steve Backley is stranded amid air traffic chaos as he joins fellow passengers forced to catch up to three trains and the Eurostar back from Budapest to London

Passengers including Olympian Steve Backley are being forced to make extraordinary new arrangements as they scramble to get home to the UK amid the air control chaos.

As the widespread disruption rumbled on into a second day, incredible stories of desperation emerged, including how one man was forced into taking four trains to escape Germany in a rail epic that will take some 17 hours.

Elsewhere, stranded travellers reported having to pay hundreds of pounds for last-minute hotels – if they were lucky enough to get a room, with thousands of families, including some with babies, being forced to sleep on airport floors.

Airlines and taxi firms were also accused of ‘cashing in’ on passengers’ misery as they had to stomach inflated prices while having to rapidly alter their plans.

Thousands of flights across Europe were grounded yesterday, after a technical glitch meant flight plans had to be input manually by controllers, causing more than a quarter of departures and arrivals to be axed in the UK.

The disruption continued into today with flights cancelled and delayed as many aircraft and crews are out of position amid warnings the chaos could run further into the week.

Mr Backley, who won silver medals for Great Britain in the 1996 and 2000 Games, was one of those caught up in the debacle after his flight back from Budapest was scrapped.

He posted online his journey back, telling fans: ‘Went to fly home, sat on a plane for six hours, got kicked off and then told we were going to have a two-day delay.

‘I’m now at a Budapest train station on a very long journey I think it’s a 24-hour journey home and that’s just to London then I’ve got to get my car from Gatwick.’

Later as he reached one station he posted another video revealing he had run into difficulties.

He said: ‘Interesting twist on this stopover because I’ve got a three hour gap and they’ve closed the train station and they won’t let me inside.

‘The police are here kicking some local tramps from the front of the station. It’s 1am and I’ve got a train at 4am, not sure what the options are from here.’

He then updated from another station that was going to take him to Frankfurt then to Brussels, adding: ‘I’ve broken the back of it now.’ 

It comes as holidaymakers arriving at Manchester Airport today revealed how they were only told their flight had been cancelled at the boarding gate.

Mental health worker Elisha Mullaney had booked a flight to Corfu with Jet2.

The 41-year-old said: ‘I received a text from Jet2 telling me to arrive as normal. We checked in our bags and went through security only to be told at the gate it was one of five flights to be cancelled.

‘It is very annoying and they must have known well in advance. It’s my son’s 16th birthday today, which makes it worse.

‘I tried to find alternative flights so we could still go but it was going to cost us £600 a ticket. The flight price had increased so much.

‘I’m just hoping we will get our money back and we can find something else quickly.’

Elisha, from Manchester, was going on a week’s holiday with her son Alex Ogden.

Mary Byrne, who was also on the same flight, said: ‘I don’t understand why Jet2 can’t just delay the flight.

‘They made us go all the way through the checking in process knowing they was no chance of us boarding and departing.

‘I thought everything with air traffic control would have been sorted by now. We are really disappointed.’

Kirstie Rowley, 52, a payroll and finance officer from Rochdale, was also travelling to Corfu on the 7.30am flight.

She said: ‘We expected to be delayed with what we had seen on the news but we did think we would get away.

‘We had checked in, found ourselves a comfortable spot to wait and got a round of drinks. Then we were told the flight had been cancelled.

‘I’m going to have to go back into work tomorrow because if I don’t I won’t have enough days left to take later. I’ve already lost one day.

‘We were supposed to be meeting friends out in Corfu so I’m going to have to let them know.

‘We are going to try to get out later in the week and extend the holiday if the hotel is available.’

Barbara Rowley, who is retired and in her 70s, said: ‘We’ve just tried to get a taxi home and were told it would cost £87. Only a few hours ago it was £40.

‘It is wrong. Everyone is trying to make a quick buck and cash in on what is happening. I am fed up and have been looking forward to this holiday.’

Chris Rowley, 51, a sheet metal worker, said: ‘It is always chaos over the bank holiday weekend. Something always seems to happen to cause delays and cancellations.

‘I am gutted because I’ve worked seven days a week for the past two weeks to get in front with my work because I knew I was going away.

‘Why did they make us go through security if they were just going to cancel the flight?

‘We have spent a lot of money already and all we have done is spend a few hours in the airport. I just hope we can fly out later in the week.’

At Heathrow, passengers revealed how they had to make last minute changes to their travel plans following the air traffic control chaos.

Steven Williams, 26 said that he was initially due to fly to Brussels on Sunday from Stansted on a budget airline.

But after the flight was cancelled, he travelled down to London, had to stay overnight in a hotel and then booked on Brussels Airline.

He said: ‘It’s cost me another £400 for the hotel and new flight but there’s not much I can do about it because I have to be at work this evening. I was only on a short visit to the UK and I wish I hadn’t come.

‘I don’t understand how, in this day and age, the air traffic IT system could collapse like this? It’s a joke and it’s ruined things for a lot of us.’

Ray Edwards, 58 from Essex had his flight to Denver cancelled yesterday.

He said: ‘I had to book a hotel near Heathrow but luckily my flight is going out today. I don’t understand why there’s always some kind of travel chaos in Britain when there’s a bank holiday?

‘The hotels around the airport put their prices up and I hope the airline are going to refund me because it wasn’t cheap.’

Staff at Heathrow revealed that it was less chaotic than Monday as passengers had been told to check if their flights were departing before going to the airport.

There were other harrowing stories of travel misery pouring out of European airports paralysed by the system failure.

The BBC’s correspondent Jon Donnison said: ‘One man told us coming back from Munich he was going to take three trains and get the Eurostar over to Britain.

‘He wouldn’t be back until Wednesday morning after a 17 hour journey from just Munich

‘It’s a pretty bad situation.’

Former Olympic Sprinter Iwan Thomas was also stranded in Amsterdam and spoke to GMB about his ordeal.

He said: ‘I estimate I’ve spent about a thousand pounds, what with getting a Eurostar ticket, you know the prices seem to be through the roof, and accommodation for one, possibly two nights.

‘As you said there are probably people travelling back for a funeral or travelling with elderly relatives or to a wedding so I can’t really complain.

‘It was heartbreaking though because my boy Teddy burst into tears when I told him I won’t be home maybe for two more nights.

‘He’s probably more tearful because he knows I bought him some Lego. My suitcases are somewhere in transit so I don’t know when I am going to get those back.’