I can't be the only person so anal I check what transport links from airports I fly to are?
Southend is not far from Southend, and if accommodation in Southend (much of it must be cheap) had been sold out that night we'd have heard about it on the news.
Does this make for a worse airport than Heathrow or Gatwick? Yes. And presumably the cost of the flights reflected this, otherwise they wouldn't have flown from there in the first place...