BBC journalist and wheelchair user Frank Gardner left stranded on plane at Gatwick Airport after returning from Nato summit in Madrid

Frank Gardner, 60, who is security correspondent for the broadcaster and uses a wheelchair, said he was stranded on the plane after flying to Gatwick with Iberia Express on Thursday night (June 29).

The journalist said he has been left on planes at UK airports several times in recent years.

Mr Gardner took to Twitter to express his anger.

He said: “FFS not again! Just back from exhausting week covering Nato summit in Madrid and quelle surprise, I'm still stuck on the plane at Gatwick. Iberia crew are gone and a new crew has come onboard. Just WHY are UK airports so consistently c**p at getting disabled people off planes?"

Once he was able to leave the plane, he tweeted again, saying: “Off the plane now - only a 20 minute delay which is mild - but ground handlers said ‘nobody told us there was a disabled passenger onboard’. Airline, Iberia, insist they did. All in all, so tedious and boring!”

A Gatwick spokesperson said: "We apologise for the delay Mr Gardner experienced on this occasion. We have been working closely with our assistance provider, Wilson James, to establish the reasons for this.

"At this stage, it appears there was no special assistance booking from the airline for Mr Gardner. However, as soon as we were made aware, the team responded and Mr Gardner received assistance within 20 minutes.

"We strive to provide the best possible service to all passengers so will continue to look into this with Wilson James and the airline concerned. We apologise again for any delay Mr Gardner experienced returning from the Nato summit in Madrid."

Iberia Express said in a statement to the national media that the ‘established procedure’ to request assistance was followed ‘at every moment’.

It added requests were made through a notification system used by Gatwick during boarding in Spain, and by radio during the approach to Gatwick.

Iberia also said a further request was made by phone when it became apparent that assistance had not arrived when the plane landed at Gatwick.

Mr Gardner was left paralysed by an Al-Qaeda gunman in Saudi Arabia in 2004.