One of the memorable events over the festive break – although actually too memorable and not very festive for those caught up in it – was the total shutdown of Gatwick Airport over the sighting of a drone that, it was feared, could have caused a plane crash.

To date, we still don't appear to know whose drone it was, or even if it was a drone or just some mass hysteria event. But it certainly came like a bolt from the blue and seemed to catch all the relevant authorities off guard. They simply had – or appeared to have – no idea as to what to do.