A long cold night of misery at T5

Heathrow's Terminal Five was a cardboard city today after hundreds of passengers were stranded overnight at the airport.

A Malaysian family, who were trying to get home and had huddled beneath the makeshift shelter to keep warm, could only mutter their despair. In broken English, one complained: "Bloody England" before storming off.

Travellers were forced to sleep on the floor on mats handed out by airport staff after snow led to more than 140 flights cancelled to and from the £4.3billion terminal.

Passengers grabbed the boxes the bedrolls had been packed in to shut out the light and noise and try to keep warm during the night.

And there is no let up to passengers' misery as a further 34 flights in and out of the terminal were cancelled this morning because BA is still trying to clear the backlog on its routes.

The airline was forced to deny reports that a lack of de-icers and further baggage handling problems had compounded the chaos.

Sandra Nabbefeld, 33, a German graphic designer who slept overnight by the check-in desks, said today: "It was crazy seeing so many people sleeping on these thin beds in a line with tiny blankets over them. It was like a prison or something, there were several young children crying. Everyone was cold and it's impossible to sleep when there are so many lights on."

A group of sales representatives from Everest Home Improvements described how their company team-building ski trip to Switzerland had become a test of endurance.

Duncan Bland, 50, said the group's flight to Geneva was cancelled yesterday morning after the wintry snap blocked runways and had been rescheduled for early this morning. But that second flight had also been cancelled scrapped. He said: "We're hoping to get on a plane this afternoon but who knows whether that will happen. We've lost faith in BA. Heads should roll over this, Willie Walsh and his management team are a disgrace."

BA said that the 34 cancelled flights today represented around 10 per cent of services out of Terminal 5. A spokesman said: "This is not caused by the baggage system, this is simply because of the weather yesterday."

The latest disaster to befall the new terminal will heap further pressure on BA's chief executive Willie Walsh.

In a letter criticising the "unhappy shambles", Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the pilots' union British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), said the problems with T5 were " symptomatic of BA's loss of focus on delivering a sound operation".

The scathing attack comes amid a bitter industrial and legal battle between Balpa and the airline that could lead to the first flight crew strike for 30 years.

Computer glitches and poor weather have added to the misery with even more aircraft grounded. The disaster has cost so far cost the airline at least £16million.

The deluge of snow and subsequent plane delays yesterday reportedly led to scuffles between frustrated passengers and staff.

BA was the worst hit, with 144 flights to and from Heathrow cancelled because of the bad weather. Staff handed out bottled water, sandwiches and biscuits as well as blankets and bedrolls for waiting passengers.