As the Christmas getaway starts, flights in and out of Gatwick have been suspended after drones were spotted in the area.

All departures and arrivals were suspended at about 9pm last night after the drones were seen flying above the airport.

Despite the runway re-opening briefly in the early hours of this morning, it was closed again after another drone sighting.

Scroll down to hear from Kelly from Maidstone who was due to be flying to Lapland to see Santa

Inbound flights are being diverted to other airports while passengers who are due to travel from the airport have been told to check with their airline before setting out.

The airport's chief operating officer, Chris Woodroofe, says a drone is still on the airfield and 10,000 people were disrupted yesterday alone.

Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw is in charge of policing at Gatwick, he said: "I've got resources from Surrey and Sussex right the way across the outside of Gatwick trying to identify who's operating this drone and I'm absolutely certain this is a deliberate act to disrupt the airfield."

A statement from the airport said: "Flights to and from Gatwick Airport remain suspended following reports of drones flying over Gatwick’s airfield last night and in the early hours of this morning.

"We are advising passengers scheduled to fly from Gatwick not to travel to the airport without checking the status of their flight with their airline this morning.

"We apologise for the inconvenience, but the safety of all passengers and staff is our first priority.

Experts are now calling for a change in the law to try and prevent this sort of thing from happening again in future.

But, Dr Alan McKenna, who is based at the Kent Law School at the University of Kent, has suggested that electronic solutions will also most likely be required to stop other incidents from occurring.

He said: "The Chief Operating Officer of Gatwick has said the drones are of an industrial size, so we appear not to be talking about the drones you can buy from the shops.

"Obviously there will be all sorts of speculation, but given the timing involved and the time period over which the drones have been present, there must be a strong suspicion this is a very deliberate act.

"The scale of the chaos will lead to calls for fresh restrictions on drones no doubt, but it has to be asked if this was a planned operation then would such restrictions be effective in preventing a repeat.

Dr McKenna has been an expert participant in a Drone Public Dialogue event organised on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and Department of Transport that is being used to help develop Government drone policies. He is also a member of Kent Police's Drone Development Board.

He added: "Only seven people have been prosecuted in five years for drone offences unrelated to prison use, which highlights the challenges for the police to be able to deal with drone mis-use like this.

"It is very likely that electronic solutions such as the one used to protect Les Nicolles prison on Guernsey from drone incursions will be introduced rapidly."

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