Teesside Air show traffic gridlock investigation launched

Passengers arriving at the airport had to walk past queues of traffic to get collected

An investigation into the causes of traffic gridlock which marred an air show is to be published in days.

Spectators complained of being stuck in their cars for hours on the roads around Teesside Airport on Saturday with many giving up and going home.

Organisers Skylive Air, who sold more than 22,000 tickets for the Teesside Airshow, have apologised and said they are looking at giving refunds.

The airport's director, Phil Forster, is conducting the investigation.

An initial 5,600 parking spaces were set aside for the show with the event's traffic management plan earmarking an extra 1,900 as a contingency measure, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has also apologised for the delays and said there would be "a full review and debrief as a matter of urgency".

Skylive Air said it employed Hatton Traffic Management to control the queues but "clearly something went wrong", with a spokesman adding: "We will fully investigate to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Tyneside-based Hatton Traffic Management declined to comment.

Chris Petty, from Skylive Air, said he hoped more information on refunds would be released following the findings of the inquiry.

He said the firm had managed Teesside's two previous air shows as well other events but this year's event may have been a "victim of its own success".

"Everyone involved needs to take responsibility," he added.

The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) contributed £100,000 towards the show - with £20,000 put towards the event initially cancelled due to the pandemic in 2020, and £80,000 granted from its culture and tourism budget.

Many attendees watched the Red Arrows from the traffic jam

Officials also said the organisers paid £50,000 to stage the event at the publicly owned Teesside Airport.

A TCVA spokesman said the authority was not involved in organising the event and it would "like to see the outcome of the investigation before commenting further".

A Darlington Borough Council spokesman said both the organiser and the traffic management company were responsible for delivering the event safely and effectively.

"An event management plan - including traffic management plans - was prepared based on their previous experience of organising events," he said.

"Sadly, as we saw on Saturday, something went badly wrong when it came to the way those plans were carried out."