A WORRIED husband has spoken of his anger after his wife became stuck for more than an hour on the British Airways i360.

The pod was making its descent during the 3pm flight when it “shuddered” to a halt, trapping nearly 200 passengers.

Robin Lenman, 71, from Penzance, whose wife Anita Ballin was one of those on board, said: “I was really worried.

“I couldn’t understand how they would actually get people out if it caught fire.

“I was standing there watching it. I complained to one of the staff and she talked to the people in the pod but she didn’t really know what was going on and there was no means of getting down.

“A women with the British Airways uniform said there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

“I said if this was a flight in an aeroplane this would be an emergency. But they didn’t want to treat it as such.

“We were all saying there must be some emergency way of getting out but there isn’t.”

The crew on board the pod offered complimentary water and juice while engineers fixed the unspecified problem.

Passengers, including young children, remained in good spirits despite the hour-long stoppage.

Alessandra Piretti, 29, was with a group of colleagues who were on the flight as a gift from their company.

She said: “At one point it shuddered a little bit and we thought it was because it was at the top.

“We knew that it had got stuck before so we knew it was going to be fine.

“Some people were a little annoyed because we were stuck there for longer than they wanted to be.”

Kristina Lloyd, 50, a writer from Kensington Place, Brighton, was with her sister Lorraine and her husband Chris who were visiting from Sunderland.

She said: “We were stuck for about an hour and about half way down it juddered to a stop.

“After about an hour we moved down in a controlled descent.

“It was long enough to be interesting. I think they handled it really well.

“There were quite a few children and I don’t think they even noticed anything going on.”

A statement from an i360 spokeswoman said: “The safety and security of our guests is our number one priority and we have evacuation procedures in place.

“These procedures have been developed in consultation with, and approved by, the emergency services.

“Investigations have revealed that a damaged data cable caused the temporary stoppage this afternoon.

"A back-up data cable came into operation and enabled the pod to return to the ground, where passengers disembarked.

“During the stoppage, customers were cared for by the in-pod crew and offered complimentary drinks from the on-board Sky Bar.

“British Airways i360 will close on Saturday 25 and Sunday February 26 while the cable is replaced.

"We are contacting all customers who have booked tickets for this weekend and offering them alternative flights or refunds.

"We would like to thank our customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”