A BASILDON family was forced to sleep on an airport floor for two days after a technical fault caused their flight home to be cancelled.

On Monday, UK airspace was hit by a network-wide failure for air traffic control systems.

The National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the country’s leading provider of air traffic control services, said controllers are having to input flight plans manually due to a fault with its systems.

It apologised for the disruption caused by the failure, which is causing significant delays at all UK airports including Southend and Stansted in Essex.

Chenel Acheampong, from Basildon and her party of 13, told ITV News how her family became “unwell” due to the stress and having to sleep on the airport floor for two days.

She told ITVI: “We have been treated like animals; we have been sleeping on the floor like cockroaches.

“I have a nephew who has a heart condition who managed to get on a flight last night after he had four attacks at the airport.

"I have a niece with half an insulin vial which will only last her until tomorrow.

"My son had a migraine because he was stressed out and threw up everywhere."

According to ITV, Ms Acheampong's nephew has been put on a flight back to the UK. Eight members of her party have been offered a flight to Tenerife this morning and then a ferry back to the UK.

A spokesperson for easyJet said: "We are truly sorry for the experience of Chanel and her family which is clearly incredibly difficult for them.

"We are in contact with her and working on options to get them home as soon as we can.

"Our teams have been working around the clock since Monday to help our customers as quickly as possible.

"As this is one of the busiest weeks of the year this is very challenging however, we are providing hotel accommodation where it is available and operating additional repatriation flights as well as larger aircraft on many routes.”