Lincoln honeymoon couple en route to Maldives stranded at Stansted

A couple who have waited a year to honeymoon in the Maldives are among tens of thousands of passengers stranded at UK airports.

Sam Stansfield said she and husband Dan should have left at 21:45 BST on Tuesday, but remain at London Stansted Airport, with Nats, the UK's air traffic services, blaming a technical glitch for widespread disruption.

The pair, from Lincoln, are now due to take off on Wednesday afternoon but will miss a connecting flight, further eating into their dream trip.

Sam, who said they spent the night "trying to sleep" on mats, added: "It's been horrendous. We are going all the way to the Maldives for about four days, but hey ho, it's better than Skegness."

Sam, who is travelling in a personalised hoodie bearing their wedding picture, said she monitored events at Heathrow and Gatwick on the BBC News website, before realising "how big it [the disruption] was".

She said there was "no room to move" at the airport earlier.

"They brought water around late at night and roll mats really late - at about 1am. It's horrible. We should be there [in the Maldives] now."

The couple only booked a relatively short trip due to not wanting to be away from their children for long and Sam's position as a childminder.

"I don't like to let people down," she said.

As the airport began to return to normal, the couple received an email informing them they are booked on a flight expected to depart at about 17:30 BST.

But the significant delay will mean they will miss a connecting flight from Abu Dabi, where they will have to wait a further six-and-a-half hours.

Martin Rolfe, the boss of Nats, has apologised for the disruption. He said there would be a full investigation, after the firm admitted resolving the issue had taken "longer than hoped".

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has summoned Rolfe to a meeting on Wednesday to answer questions about the disruption and response.

She is expected to tell MPs that a cyber attack was "categorically" not the cause of the fault.

Sam added: "I'm hoping we can laugh about it at some point."

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More flights delayed after hundreds cancelled by air traffic control glitch