NORTHERN Echo editor Andy Richardson was flying back to the UK today after becoming caught up in the fall-out from the collapse of Monarch Airlines.

Andy, who was on holiday in Italy was due to return to the UK on a Monarch Airlines flight at midday.

However, early today he received this message from the airline: "Important! We regret to tell you Monarch has stopped operating. All flights have been cancelled."

The Northern Echo:

He said: "We were due to fly back with Monarch from Naples to Leeds/Bradford at 12.20pm today. So far all I’ve had is one text at 5am telling me the airline had stopped operating and all flights were cancelled.

"The advice is to go to the Monarch website and await updates. The CAA must have known the airline was about to go bust so the way this has been handled and the communications to passengers has been a shambles."

Reporting later from the airport, Andy added: "Here is the scene from Naples following the collapse this morning of Monarch airline.

"It looks as though our flight back to Leeds/Bradford is scheduled for the original time. There are plenty of staff on hand giving passengers advice and the queues are no bigger than you would expect. So far so good."

It had been hoped he would get away on schedule, but a replacement flight was then delayed for two hours.

He later managed to board a Blue Panorama branded plane headed for Leeds.