DHAKA: Flights are being delayed across the UK and Ireland because of an air traffic control centre fault.

Affected airports include Heathrow, Stansted, Cardiff, Dublin, and Glasgow.

The National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said its Swanwick centre, in Hampshire, was having ‘difficulty switching from night time to daytime operation’.

It said the problem will not be fixed until between 1800 GMT and 1900 GMT with delays likely to continue beyond.

Operations director Juliet Kennedy told the BBC she did not think the problem had happened before.

BDST: 2038 HRS, DEC 07, 2013