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Teesside Airshow organisers apologise after traffic gridlock mars event

Peter Jones, who queued for two hours before giving up, took footage of tailbacks on the A67 back to Yarm

The organisers of an air show have apologised for the traffic chaos which saw hundreds of ticketholders trapped on gridlocked roads for hours.

More than 22,000 tickets were sold for Teesside Airshow on Saturday, but many were caught up in the huge queues.

Teesside International Airport which staged the sold-out event, said it had been a "victim of its own success".

Organisers Skylive Air said they will "fully investigate" what went wrong and are looking in to how to give refunds.

Ian Squire Photography Red ArrowsIan Squire Photography
Many attendees watched the Red Arrows from the traffic jam

Chris Petty and Steve Davies, co-organisers of Skylive Air, apologised to "every single person that was affected by the delays".

In a statement, they said: "We employed a professional traffic management company, have held numerous meetings over many months with Stockton and Darlington councils, the Safety Advisory Group, and the police.

"The traffic management plan in place was fully signed off by everyone.

"Clearly something went wrong yesterday and we will fully investigate to make sure this doesn't happen again. We are looking in to how to give refunds to those who didn't attend the show because of the delays."

Disgruntled customers took to social media to vent their frustration at the long delays, with many of those who missed out demanding refunds.

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

The airport, which hosted the show but did not organise it, said: "It's a huge shame that many people have had their days spoiled by long queues.

"We are all so sorry that delays and traffic have impacted not just those going to our air show, but also local people trying to get around.

"We will be speaking to the organisers and conducting a full review and debrief as a matter of urgency early next week."

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The scale of the problems meant many were stuck in traffic after the show had begun and others gave up trying to get in altogether.

There were also reports of long delays leaving the site.

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The 22,000 tickets sold did not include children, so about 25,000 people were expected to attend.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen also apologised for the debacle and promised "a full review and debrief as a matter of urgency".

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