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Holidaymakers who were returning from a getaway in sunny Spain were stranded at City of Derry Airport for two hours yesterday because no one was there to check their passports.

The delay affected dozens of passengers who landed on a Ryanair flight from the tourist resort of Alicante and others who flew in from Birmingham.

They were forced to wait until an employee arrived to staff the passport control checkpoint and clear the backlog at the airport northeast of Derry, Northern Ireland.

Passengers were stranded at City of Derry Airport because no one was there to check their passports

Irish singer-songwriter Mickey Joe Harte was stuck in the queue after returning from a Spanish holiday with his family.

He described the situation in an interview with Highland Radio while a UK Border Force member was en route to the airport: 'There's a planeload of people waiting here patiently to get through passport control.

'Everybody's just a wee bit frustrated here.' 

Airport staff gave the stranded passengers tea and sandwiches while they waited in the baggage area, and some travellers were feeling anxious because they had booked taxis or train tickets to travel home or continue their journey.

He said: 'Staff have been doing what they can top appease everybody here. I suppose they can't let us go any further until we're all checked.'

Everyone remained calm while most people stood or sat on the floor because of a lack of seats: 'I think everybody's chilled out after their holidays.' 

Britain's Home Office has launched an investigation to find out why passport control was unmanned

The British Home Office apologised for the delay and launched an investigation to find out why no one was there to receive the passengers.

A Home Office spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: 'Officers were deployed as usual from Belfast International Airport as soon as they became aware of the issue and all passengers were subsequently cleared.

'Security of the border is our priority and we have to carry out the necessary passport checks. We are investigating the circumstances of this incident.'