'Absolute nightmare' woman almost misses urgent medical appointment due to Bristol Airport queues

• Watch Katherine Cenaj's report here.

Passengers caught up in the chaos at Bristol Airport yesterday (21 October) say they should be compensated.

A shortage of security staff meant people were stuck in queues for hours with many missing their flights.

At least ten flights were delayed, with many people reporting being scared as people became angry in the queues.

Rita Caetano said she was forced to jump six rows of people to get through security and catch her flight to Portugal.

"It was a total disaster, people were getting angry, faint and anxious. Many people with babies had to breastfeed the babies while they were queueing. It was an absolute nightmare."

Rita queued for more than two and a half hours and said that at times, she feared for her own safety.

"Many people thought that fights were going to start happening. They started screaming and shouting at each other. Bristol Airport security is not even that big so it was thousands of people packed - it was absolutely packed. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack and it was a very nervous situation."

Rita was eventually able to jump the queue and make her flight in time for her medical appointment but others weren't so lucky.

She said that her plane left half-empty with many other passengers still stuck in the security queues.

The airport has apologised to passengers and in a statement to ITV West Country it said:

“The queues for security in the early morning were unacceptable and we apologise to all customers who were impacted.

"Far fewer security staff were working than planned. We’re urgently discussing the issue with our security business partner so passengers receive the service levels they rightly expect.

“The queues at security have now returned to normal. Our advice for passengers flying later today is unchanged - we recommend you arrive at least two hours ahead of your scheduled time of departure.”