Passengers were left stranded after a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Norwich was cancelled at the weekend with little warning.

The scheduled service was due to leave Schiphol Airport, in Amsterdam, and land at Norwich Airport on Saturday July 2, but a message was sent to travellers that it had been cancelled on Friday evening.

Mike Plant, who lives in Hockering and was booked on the Saturday flight, said that this is the third time this year that his flight between Norwich and Amsterdam has been cancelled.

He said he was not told why the flight was cancelled, but airlines around the world have been struggling to cope with staff shortages in critical roles.

Mr Plant added that in future he would be going more from Stansted because he "cannot rely on Norwich".

However, a spokesperson for Norwich Airport said that scheduling of flights is a matter for airlines and not the airport.

At the weekend Mr Plant was due to fly from Nice to Norwich, transferring through the Amsterdam airport.

"My Saturday flight was cancelled because the Norwich leg of the flight was cancelled for no reason," he said.

He explained that although he was able to catch a flight to Norwich the next day, it took 45 minutes on the phone with the airline KLM to get booked onto the service.

Originally he was going to be charged more than £1,000 for the flight as the only available seat was in business class.

However, the extra fee was waivered.

He also said that he was initially told he would have to wait until Monday to fly into Norwich, but argued with the airline that planned protests by Dutch farmers near Schiphol meant there was a risk of later flights being disrupted.

Mr Plant, who stayed in Nice until he had finalised his travel plans, added: "If I had not fought and been a KLM card holder I would have had to stay two days."

He said that this is the third time his flight from Norwich to Amsterdam has been cancelled this year, with previous disruptions taking place on January 7 and May 8.

Last month a TUI flight from Norwich to Mallorca was delayed for 42 hours due to technical issue with the plane.

A KLM spokesperson said that cancellations are due to "staffing problems at Schiphol".

They added: "KLM passengers whose flights get cancelled will be offered acceptable alternatives. In most cases, this will mean a flight on the same day, or as close as possible to the day of the original booking."