Thousands of passengers at Terminal 5 in Heathrow were left stranded after a mechanical fault on the baggage system meant they were unable to check in their luggage.

An estimated 5,000 passengers were unable to board their flights for a period of up to five hours, leading to chaos at Terminal 5, which is operated exclusively by British Airways.

A BA spokesperson apologised for the inconvenience and reported that the problem was fixed at around 6.00pm last night.

When the £4.3bn terminal opened last March it was hit with baggage reclaim problems that forced the cancellation of over 30 flights. The airline is in dire financial trouble, and recently asked staff to work for free or take unpaid leave.