Autistic Coventry teenager left behind in Spain amid flight chaos

Charlene Cromwell was left distressed after being forced to board a plane without her autistic daughter

A pregnant mother had to leave her autistic daughter behind in Spain after an air traffic control issue caused widespread travel disruption.

Charlene Cromwell and her family were among the thousands of passengers affected by the cancellation of more than a quarter of UK flights on Monday.

When their flight from Barcelona was cut, she was offered another, but told there was no room for her 13-year-old.

Ryanair said only two seats were available on the flight.

Ms Cromwell, who is 33 weeks pregnant, had been enjoying a holiday in the Spanish city with her cousin and two teenage daughters aged 13 and 14 ahead of the bank holiday.

After being told their flight was no longer going ahead, they were put up in a hotel and assured they would be put on a priority list on Tuesday morning.

However, the holiday bliss turned into a nightmare for the soon to be mother-of-three.

Ms Cromwell, who is 33 weeks pregnant, was put on a priority flight from Barcelona to London Stansted

"We managed to finally board the aeroplane to be told that my youngest daughter and my cousin had no seats," Ms Cromwell told BBC Radio CWR.

"Only I and one daughter could board - we had to leave behind my autistic daughter and my cousin.

"They wouldn't let us change the name to my other daughter who would have been a bit more understanding to stay.

"They chose which one was going to fly."

Although all four had boarding passes, she said she was given the distressing news that her daughter and cousin would have to stay in Barcelona while standing at the entrance of the plane.

While knowing her daughter would be safe with her 23-year-old cousin, Ms Cromwell said nobody should effectively have to "choose" between their children.

On top of the separation, she was also told her luggage had been lost.

Many passengers were left stranded in airports amid the chaos

The following night, her daughter was able to return on a plane to London Stansted.

A spokesperson for Ryanair said: "To minimise disruption to these passengers and to get them to their destination as quickly as possible, they were put on standby for the next flight from Barcelona to London Stansted departing later that same day.

"However, as only two seats were available on this flight, two passengers from the booking chose to travel and the other two passengers were accommodated on a later flight that same day."

The flight chaos was caused by a data processing glitch, the head of National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has said.

Nats controls most aircraft in UK airspace and receives millions of flight plans every year. Airlines submit every flight path to the national control centre and these should automatically be shared with Nats controllers.

But on Monday, Nats received data that it could not process.

The disruption left some holidaymakers sleeping on airport floors or in makeshift beds, as more than 1,500 flights were cancelled.

The incident will be investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Nats has confirmed there were no signs the failure was caused by a cyber-attack.