A Ryanair flight took off without 150 passengers, leaving them stranded in France, due to huge queues at border control.

The flight, FR282, was headed from Toulouse to London Stansted on May 30 and one woman described the situation as 'pure chaos'.

The passenger said that delays started after security, with around 500 people queueing in the area.

She added that the chaos was due to a large number of passengers arriving at the same time, with other flights due to board at the same time also affected.

"You didn't join a queue, because there was no queue to join. There was just a scrummage of people," she told The Connexion.

The one member of staff attempting to organise the queue could not be heard.

On the plane, it was reportedly announced by the pilot that around 150 passengers had not been able to make it on board as a result.

A statement from Ryanair said: "The claim that Ryanair left passengers behind in Toulouse is false. Due to delays caused by border control staff shortages at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport on 30 May, a number of passengers booked to travel from Toulouse to London Stansted were not in the boarding gate area when boarding for their flight closed and missed their flight from Toulouse to London Stansted.

"All passengers that were at the boarding gate when this flight from Toulouse to London Stansted boarded were accommodated and travelled without incident."

Chaotic airport queues have led to many passengers missing flights in recent months following the rollour of the Entry/Exit System (EES).

The EES was implemented on April 10, and means UK passengers now need to register biometric details, such as fingerprints and facial recognition images, when entering the Schengen Area.

The added checks are leading to longer processing times across busy aurports in Europe.

Lenghty queues at arrivals at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark last week saw the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) issue an official warning.

It said: "Travellers flying into and out of Copenhagen Airport from non-Schengen destinations (including the UK) are experiencing long delays at passport control. Embassy staff are in discussion with the relevant authorities on managing this pressure."

The warning continued urging passengers to give themselves extra time ahead of flights.

Olivier Jankovec, the director of the ACI European division, told the Financial Times: "This situation, in the coming weeks and certainly over the peak summer months, is going to be simply unmanageable. We are seeing those queueing times now, at peak times, when traffic is just starting to build up."

The head of easyJet criticised the system, calling on European member states to show greater flexibility and prevent lengthy airport queues triggered by EES.

He said: "We are in correspondence with all the European member states, encouraging them to use the flexibility they have already been given by the EC, because it is unacceptable if customers are made to wait in border queues because, frankly, they have had since 2017 to prepare.

"It is really inexcusable. They have got the means to avoid allowing the queues to overrun by opening up the passport desks. It is completely in the gift of the European member states to smooth this through."

Toulouse Airport have been contacted by The Express.