British Airways passengers who have been stranded in England since Tuesday arrived in Bermuda last night.

On Tuesday the flight was turned around half way across the North Atlantic because of a crack in the windshield, passengers said.

Heavy snow in London kept them grounded until yesterday as Gatwick Airport was closed.

Some chose to try and fly out of nearby Heathrow Airport and return to the Island via the US, while others stayed and tried to find hotels.

Liz Breeze, an accountant in Bermuda, was on the Tuesday flight.

“We were about four hours in when the pilot told us they had technical difficulties,” she said last night after disembarking the plane. “They told us they were closer to Newfoundland than England but were concerned about the high winds and had decided to turn around. No one panicked.

“When we got back to London, Gatwick had already been closed, but we were allowed land. At that point the pilot told us the technical difficulty was a crack in the windshield.”

Ms Breeze was at the front of economy class. They had been told hotels had been set aside for them but when she got to the airline counter she was told the rooms were no longer available.

“At that point I thought ‘it is every man for himself’,” she said. “I called my parents, in Essex, but they could not pick me up as the roads were closed due to the snow. I called my boyfriend Gareth in Bermuda and told him I was going into the city and to find me a hotel.”

Gareth Walters was sitting in the Fairmont Hamilton Princess lounge at the time with friends when he got the call. He started phoning hotels across London and searching online. Everywhere he called had the same answer, there were no rooms left.

“The airports were closed, the trains weren’t working and there was some big football games on in London so there were no rooms,” Mr Walters said. “Finally I found one online at the Green Park hotel. When I called them to say someone was arriving any minute and give them the booking number they said there were no rooms left.”

Ms Breeze managed to stay there one evening before heading to another hotel in Shepard’s Bush. She later found out the other economy passengers had been bussed to Brighton where they stayed until yesterday.

Karen Frith’s husband Carter was on hand at arrivals last night with a glass of wine to celebrate her return.

Mrs Frith had spent the previous three weeks working in London and was looking forward to coming home on Wednesday. The heavy snow delayed her return.

“It is freezing in London right now,” she said. “And there is snow in the city, which I gather is quite rare.

“As I drove to the airport in the [Friday] morning there were cars abandoned on the side of the road covered in snow. It was still pretty much a white out. And their snow ploughs were so small compared to ones in the US.”

Carole Havercroft and her husband Ian planned to return to Bermuda with their dog Myth on Tuesday.

They were one of the few passengers on that flight who managed to get a room in the Hilton Gatwick, instead of being bussed to Brighton.

“The whole of Gatwick was swarming with queues of people trying to find a place to stay and it really was chaotic,” she said. “We have been so lucky really BA have put us up each night and fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner each day a very difficult, frustrating and anxious time has been made easier by our secure hotel arrangements. Hundreds of people have been stuck in Gatwick with no hotel, sleeping on chairs, sofas and the floor. The BA and Hilton staff has all been great.”

Meanwhile their 11-week old Saluki puppy has stayed at the Gatwick Cargo Animal Reception Centre. In total there were four puppies on the Bermuda bound flight and they are all staying at the centre.

“The people there were very nice, professional and caring, and put him in a large kennel,” she said. “I spoke with them several times and they assured me that he was being fed, played with and cuddled etc.”