The 50-year-old IT worker from Hale, Cheshire, just a few miles away, said: “Our friend’s daughter was flying alone for the first time and had already been delayed two hours so we said we’d pick her up.
“She said she’d get a cab, but we said, ‘No, we’ll come and get you. It’s no hassle.’ Famous last words! We live around the corner and pick people up at the airport about half a dozen times a year.
“We had to queue for a car park that was rammed. People were struggling to find spaces.
“We found one and got our ticket. We were no more than 10 minutes.
“But by the time we got back to the car, we were blocked in because people were just stopping in the driving sections, picking people up.
“There were normal cars, Ubers, taxis… it was chaos.
“We eventually queued for a machine to pay our fee but there was only one pay machine and about 10 people waiting. It was taking about five minutes for every person.
“The whole thing was a traffic jam. There were drivers trying to come in, people trying to pay, some parked up.
“I’ve never seen such chaos and it was half-past midnight – not a peak time.
“It was so stressful, the worst experience I’ve ever had there and there were people there with young children.
“It’s just a money earner.”
