All British airspace closed today as a massive cloud of volcanic ash wreaked havoc at airports across the nation.

Tens of thousands of holidaymakers faced travel chaos as ash from Iceland’s volcanic eruption paralysed British airports, grinding all flights to a halt.

All flights were grounded, apart from emergency situations, including RAF Search and Rescue.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled around the UK and Europe and a number of UK airports have closed.

Scottish airspace was closed all morning, while the rest of the nation’s airspace was closing at midday.

At Birmingham Airport passengers had to frantically rearrange travel as flights ground to a halt.

Carl Fellows, 35, was due to fly to Faro, Portugal, with BmiBaby with five Wolverhampton friends for a golfing holiday.

The IT worker was left stranded after his flight was cancelled.

He said: “We were due to fly at 10:10am. When we got here we were told an earlier flight had already been delayed. It was a long weekend. We go every year. We were hopeful that it would just be delayed rather than cancelled and now we’re just going to have to see what we can do.” The windows of one plane which travelled through the clouds of ash, was said to be covered in ash, resembling frosted windows when it landed.

Air traffic controllers said all airspace north of London was closed today until further notice.

The chaos emerged after  the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland yesterday erupted for the second time in a month, spewing massive clouds of ash thousands of feet into the sky.

Scientists said the eruption, under a glacier, was 10 to 20 times more powerful than the one last month.

The volcano erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.

John Morris, Head of Corporate Affairs at Birmingham Airport, said “We are advising passengers to check with their airline before coming to the airport because every  airline has a different procedure

“We are going to reassess the situation at lunchtime and we will take the advice that we are given but we are realistic.

“This isn’t going to be something that will be over in two to three hours. This is very unusual but there are cases elsewhere in the world.”

Matt Dobson, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, said ash would come down in Scotland, Denmark and Norway and could continue to affect airspace until Friday.

It cannot be seen from the ground as it blowing across Britain around three miles in the sky.

Ash can disrupt the engines of an aircraft and reduce visibility as well as affecting landing and navigation gear.