British Airways cancelled all its flights from Heathrow tonight after a wildcat strike by ground staff who were angered by the sacking of hundreds of workers at the airline's in-flight meals company.

Heathrow terminals filled up with thousands of increasingly frustrated holidaymakers when BA was forced to close its check-in desks at 3.15pm. This evening the airline said it was cancelling all today's remaining short and long-haul flights - 106 in all.

Around 1,000 ground staff stopped work in sympathy with as many as 800 employees sacked at Gate Gourmet, an American-owned company that supplies all BA's in-flight meals at Heathrow.

The company sacked the workers after what it said was an unofficial strike yesterday - although some workers accused management of locking them in a canteen and demanding that they sign new employment contracts.

Both groups of workers belong to the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). The union said that it had no information about the unlawful secondary strike by the BA workers.

The airline struggled throughout the morning to give passengers bags of food and vouchers to buy their own food and drink after supplies from the catering firm dried up. Passengers on long-haul flights to Asia or North America were told to bring their own sandwiches or stock up before their flights took off.

But when the ground staff stopped work this afternoon, BA was forced to suspend all its flights out of the UK's busiest airport. BA usually has 550 flights in and out of the airport during the peak summer season, carrying 100,000 passengers a day.

"We've had to suspend temporarily check-in for our flights from Heathrow," a BA spokesman said. "This is as a result of some T&G (Transport and General Workers Union) staff unofficially stopping work in support of the Gate Gourmet situation.

"We apologise to passengers for the disruption to the their travel arrangements. We are working hard to resolve the issues with out staff and will resume our schedule as soon as possible."

A Heathrow spokesman told travellers to expect delays over the next day or so and indicated that other airlines could be affected. He said: "The continuing industrial difficulties at Gate Gourmet have escalated, resulting in a stoppage by some British Airways staff.

"As a consequence, there is likely to be considerable delays to British Airways services for the rest of the day. If you are due to fly with British Airways in the next 24 hours then you are advised to contact the airline direct.

"There may be some disruption to other airlines but we are working hard to minimise disruption to passengers. If you are concerned about the status of your flight then you are advised to contact your airline."

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