If the crew had insisted on 2 nights at LGW having been away for 4 or 5 days, would the time spent in a hotel at LGW counted towards their time off after the trip?
I find it hard to believe anyone who had been away from home for 4 or 5 days would want to be stuck in a LGW hotel perhaps miles from anywhere when home base and perhaps their loved one's are only a 45 minute drive away.
I assumed a diversion to any of the London airports would have resulted in a short bus drive to base unless other forces such as exceeding legal working limits prevented that.
Last time I was a passenger on a flight that diverted (a short haul flight) we waited an hour and the same crew flew us on to LHR.
If a long-range flight (to name a few: CPT, GRU, HKG, JNB, LAX & SFO) diverts anywhere, the cabin crew needs two local nights rest at the city of diversion. This is because long-range duties are extended in return of crew rest onbord. When crew get back to base, they will need at least three local nights before their next duty. CPT gives 5 local nights at base so it basically it means that crew could have had 2 local nights at LGW, gone back to base and done their next trip without any disruption.
It's different on flights within Europe and non-long range flights (DEL, DFW, DXB, JFK, MIA etc). On non-long range longhaul trips we can extend our duty to 16:15 hours. I'm not sure about the limits on Eurofleet.