Gatwick Airport hit by major water outage, leaving terminals without running water.

Passengers travelling through Gatwick Airport endured lengthy queues for toilets and found restaurants and bars closed after a major outage left both terminals without running water.

The disruption began on Sunday morning when a power failure at SES Water’s Bough Beech treatment works, which supplies the airport and surrounding areas, cut the water supply. The incident affected both terminals at the UK’s second-busiest airport, leaving many travellers frustrated as facilities were forced to close.

Passengers told the BBC they struggled to find places to sit after restaurants and bars shut their doors, while queues grew outside the limited number of usable toilets.

Gatwick said bottled water was being distributed to passengers and confirmed it was continuing to experience disruption. SES Water said the power fault had been resolved and that water supplies were gradually returning.

The supplier, which serves parts of Kent, Surrey and south London as well as the airport, said the power failure had caused operational issues at the treatment works, resulting in low water pressure or temporary loss of supply for some customers.

A spokesperson had earlier confirmed that Gatwick was among the locations affected.

Later on Sunday, SES Water said the treatment works had restarted but warned it would take time before normal service was fully restored, describing the incident as “a highly unusual and complex issue”.

“We want to reiterate that our teams are working as quickly as they possibly can and we are grateful for everyone’s patience,” the spokesperson said.

Gatwick apologised to passengers and acknowledged the continuing disruption.

In a statement, the airport said: “There is currently no water supply in either terminal.

“Our staff are on hand to support passengers and provide assistance where needed, some restaurant partners have opened to provide additional seating.”

The airport added that extra staff had been deployed across both terminals to help travellers and confirmed no flights had been cancelled because of the outage. It said it was working closely with SES Water to minimise disruption.

‘At least provide chairs’

Passenger Paul Lee told the BBC he had not heard any announcements explaining the situation and had not seen bottled water being handed out.

“For people who need to go to the toilet, this isn’t good, and still no announcement or official information – and the water they mentioned isn’t being distributed,” he said.

“I’m taking off soon, so that’s fine, but for passengers in a few hours, this will be bad.”

Lee said airport shops remained open but restaurants and lounges had closed.

Former MP and former UK Music chief executive Michael Dugher urged Gatwick on social media to “at least allow people to use the chairs in all the closed restaurants and bars”.

He wrote: “No water is one thing but depriving people of somewhere to sit is another… families are having to sit on the floor.”

BBC reporter Adam Dowling, travelling from Valencia to Gatwick, said his flight was delayed because landing slots were being adjusted to reduce the number of arriving aircraft.

The BBC has contacted Gatwick Airport to establish whether the disruption affected further flights.

Roger Wood, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, said he initially thought friends were joking when they told him all the restaurants and bars in the South Terminal had closed.

When he arrived before his flight, he found there was “no water at all – no Nando’s, no Wetherspoon, all of those places were completely shut and stopping people coming in as there was no fresh water or ability to wash hands”.

“The only place you could buy something was places like Pret and Itsu where it was packaged food, or shops,” Wood said.

“There was a general grumpiness and the usual frustration at not being able to get a drink at a bar from people, but everybody seemed quite resigned.”

He said toilets remained open in some areas but there was no running water for handwashing, and conditions deteriorated during the time he was at the airport. Many toilets were out of service because taps and flushing systems were not working.

Only facilities connected to emergency water supplies remained open.

One passenger described “a very long queue to the ladies’ toilets and a short queue to the men’s, with no water to wash hands or flush the toilet”, while another said she had been refused access to the toilets.

Sarah Houchin, whose flight to Lefkada in Greece was delayed by almost two-and-a-half hours, said many toilets had been closed and those still open were overcrowded.

“The toilets are either closed or they send you to another toilet and it’s a really long queue, and the toilets are disgusting,” she said.

“As you can imagine, you can smell them.”

Houchin said passengers had received very little information from the airport.

“I think people are just fed up because they’ve got a long wait, but everyone understands there’s nothing you can do about it,” she added.

Ian Bubb, travelling to Alicante with British Airways, criticised what he called a “total lack of information” from the airport.

“Absolute disgrace at Gatwick – total lack of contingency planning for such an event,” he said.

Bubb added that despite booking access to an airport lounge, he was not allowed inside.

Passengers travelling to Gatwick were advised not to arrive early.

EasyJet said bag-drop desks were temporarily opening two hours before departure instead of the usual three because of the disruption.

The airline urged passengers not to arrive earlier than necessary, warning they would not be able to check in bags or access the departure lounge until bag drop opened.

SES Water said postcodes TN8 and TN11 in Kent and parts of RH1, RH6 and RH10 in Surrey experienced low pressure or a loss of water supply. Bottled water was being delivered to vulnerable customers.

Gatwick previously experienced water supply problems in July 2022 when a burst water main caused low pressure, affected around 1,200 nearby homes and forced the airport to close toilet facilities.