Teesside Airshow: Traffic gridlock mars first event in five years

The first Teesside Airshow for five years has been met with huge traffic queues as people have struggled to get into the event.

Teesside International Airport was due to host 22,000 people for the sold-out show.

Disgruntled ticketholders took to Twitter to vent their frustration at being stuck in gridlock for hours.

Organiser Chris Petty said they put out the message "weeks before" for people to allow "plenty of time" to get there.

"We put a full traffic management plan in place, we go through stringent plans and we speak with the council, the police, with regards to planning and there's just some things that you just can't manage.

"It's a sell-out event, obviously there's going to be lots of people travelling.

"It's one of them things unfortunately and if we could change things and fly everybody in, we would," he added.

The scale of the problems experienced by people trying to get to the airport, between Darlington and Stockton, was reflected in the hashtag #TeessideAirshow.

Some complained of still being stuck in traffic after the show had begun.

Other people tweeted that they had given up trying to get in and called on the organisers for refunds.

One woman said that despite a normal journey time from her home to Teesside Airport of 15 minutes she had been stuck for hours.

Cleveland Police warned of heavy traffic on routes to the airport and asked drivers to avoid the area.

The airport had advised people on Saturday morning to allow extra time for their journeys but in the absence of further updates by mid-afternoon people replied to the tweet with frustration and anger.

Speaking earlier, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said the 22,000 tickets sold did not include children, so about 25,000 people were expected.

"That comes with its own headaches and some of the traffic has been difficult to deal with, but it looks like people are now getting into the air show itself.

"Everybody's having a good time and hopefully we can do this again in the future and we can improve it for next year," he said.

The Red Arrows and a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight were part of the line-up, with food stalls, a motor show and a fair on the ground.

About 18,000 visitors attended the first air show in May 2016.

It was axed in 2017 when the airport pulled out of an agreement to host it due to the cost of increased safety requirements following the Shoreham disaster.

The event had been due to resume last year but was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

It is the only air show taking place in the North East this year with Sunderland Airshow cancelled.

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].