Holidaymakers due to return to Glasgow from Corfu yesterday spent an extra night on the Greek island after their flight was delayed by 20 hours.

Dozens of passengers were left stranded at the airport when the Thomas Cook plane was found to have a “technical fault”.

The holiday company said the flight has now left Corfu following an inspection and is expected to land at Glasgow Airport this afternoon.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook Airlines said: “We’re extremely sorry for the delay to this flight and thank our customers for their patience.

“The reason for the delay was that the aircraft flying had an unexpected technical fault requiring an inspection by our engineers.

“The time taken to complete this inspection meant the crew’s operating hours would have been exceeded their legal limits if the flight had gone ahead yesterday evening.

“Therefore, we provided customers with refreshments at the airport and then hotels overnight. The flight has just departed meaning an approximate delay of 20 hours.”