Kurtis Toy, a 36-year-old cyber security consultant from Aberdeenshire, became known as the "Hero of Gatwick" after using his loud voice to help overwhelmed easyJet staff communicate with hundreds of stranded passengers during widespread flight disruption. He stepped in on Tuesday after his own flight to Aberdeen was cancelled following a four-hour delay caused by a technical fault with air traffic control systems, one of many incidents that left around 330,000 passengers affected that day. His actions, filmed and shared widely online, highlight both the goodwill of individual passengers and the strain placed on airline staff during major disruption.

Toy had been in London to give a speech on Britain's resilience to technology failures when he found himself caught up in the very kind of chaos he had been discussing. After leaving his grounded flight, he found two easyJet staff struggling to answer queries from around 100 passengers and offered to relay information, later reading out lists of cancelled flights and directions to the crowd from behind the desk for roughly four hours. Footage of him assisting staff has been viewed more than eight million times on TikTok. He eventually made it home some 25 hours after his original departure time, flying via Heathrow with British Airways.