HUNDREDS of passengers were at their wits’ end last night after a series of disasters that started with a toilet on their plane “exploding”.

Many of them spent Tuesday night sleeping on the floor at Gatwick after their 8pm flight to Budapest was cancelled.

Last night, as the Argus went to press, they were still waiting to take off.

Things started going wrong after the holidaymakers, including Argus reporter Katharine Hay, boarded the Wizz Air flight on Tuesday evening.

Katharine spotted excrement bubbling from the plane’s toilets and alerted the crew. Passengers were warned there would be a long delay.

One angry traveller eventually stormed off the plane, causing further delays because all bags had to be checked in case the man had “passed on dangerous contraband to other passengers”.

The exhausted travellers were then told the flight had been cancelled – but there were not enough hotel beds for all of them.

Many ended up sleeping on cafe benches and the airport floor while they waited for a rescheduled flight the next morning – only to be told it had been delayed again by a further four hours.

Astonishingly, there was then a problem with the replacement plane due to take off at 4pm yesterday.

A tow bar being used to move it into position broke, condemning passengers to further misery.

Katharine, 26, from Brighton, travelling with boyfriend Aeden Cormack, said: “I’m really tired and delirious and everyone is exhausted. Before we took off I went to the toilet and noticed there was urine all over the floor.

“I went into the other toilet and there was poo on the seat. It had bubbled up and splashed over the toilet.

“I pointed this out to the air hostesses and they looked at it nervously and were discussing while walking up and down the aisle.”

After three and a half hours sitting on the runway, the holidaymakers were told the flight had been cancelled.

Ms Hay said: “They said we would all be put up in a hotel for the night. But after four hours in a queue they said there were no hotels left.”

A bus load of passengers who had already been sent out to a hotel were brought back after it was found there were no vacancies.

Passengers were offered some airport food tokens, which they could use to buy a sandwich and a drink.

They were kept entertained by two young Irish men Levi O’Mahoney and Brian Hurley who played music and led the group in a singalong in a bid to keep spirits up.

A Wizz Air spokesman said: “The [first] flight had to undergo unscheduled technical maintenance shortly before departure.

“As engineers deemed the aircraft needed a replacement part, the flight was rescheduled for the following day.

“For those who did not ask or were unable to be accommodated in a hotel overnight due to a lack of availably will have their costs reimbursed by Wizz. Wizz Air sincerely apologises for the inconvenience this long delay has caused.

“The safety of our passengers, crew and aircraft remains our number one priority.”