British Ministers labelled police handling of presumed Gatwick drone sightings communications as a “mess-up”

Ministers have labelled the police handling of communications surrounding the Gatwick Airport drone sightings as a “mess-up”, Sky News reports to understand.

Meanwhile The Sun reports that ‘new sightings’ resulted to be cranes

After an hour-long conference call on Monday chaired by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, it was acknowledged police “have not handled their communication response well”.

Sunday’s claim by police that there was a “possibility” that there might never have been a drone, was described as a “mess-up”.

Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley said on Sunday that there were some “persons of interest” and denied the investigation was “back to square one”.

People who reported sightings are being interviewed and officers are carrying out extensive house-to-house inquiries, he added.

Forensic officers are continuing to examine a damaged drone found near Horley, close to the airport perimeter and the last reported sighting.

The Sun reports that a combination of wrong police protocols and poor media management caused yesterday’s slip-up.

Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley sensationally claimed yesterday there was a “possibility” there may not have been a drone, but the force put out a correction today.

He said: “We are actively investigating sightings of drone activity at Gatwick Airport following 67 reports from the evening of the 19 December to 21 December from the public, passengers, police officers and staff at the airport.”