Bus delays caused 90-minute queues at airport security
LONG queues in the departures hall at Manchester Airport were caused by delays to staff buses, a spokesman has confirmed.
Frustrated passengers said they were forced to queue in the security line for more than 90 minutes at Terminal One yesterday morning.
Holidaymakers said they made it as far as scanning in their boarding pass and then were stuck queuing at security for hours.
A spokesman for the airport said the queues were caused by two incidents at a staff car park, which led to delays to the bus service used to transfer airport workers to T1.
This meant some staff members were late and a number of security lanes were unable to open.
It is believed one of the buses was held up by a medical emergency which took place on board.
There was also a technical fault on one of the security lanes.
The spokesman said: “(On Friday) morning there were two incidents at a staff car park that delayed buses transferring colleagues to the terminal.
“This resulted in staff being late and delaying the opening of a number of security lanes in Terminal 1.
“This, combined with a technical fault on one of the lanes, meant passengers did suffer delays getting through security.
“This has now been resolved and the operation is back to normal. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Dozens of passengers vented their frustrations on social media while being stuck in the long queues.
Daniel Owen-Parr wrote: “What is going on at T1 Manchester Airport. I’ve never seen a queue like it #missingmyflight. These are the longest queues I’ve even seen to get into security. Looks like I might miss my flight...”
He later added: “It’s getting worse. Forty minutes to check in... now the queue is over 150m long both ways to get to security. Do I get a refund on the holiday if we miss our flights?
“Very few staff and no-one knows what is going on. Less than an hour until we fly and people are still checking in for the flight.”
Ciara O’Sullivan said: “Sort out the chaos going through T1 security. 25 mins to get as far as scanning boarding pass to start to join the queue plus Fast Track machine not working.”