'Absolute carnage': Bank of Dave star slams 'colossal' airport queues

The Lancashire businessman shared footage of huge passport control queues after returning from Mallorca

Manchester Airport has responded to a viral social media video posted by Bank of Dave star Dave Fishwick, which showed 'colossal queues' and 'absolute carnage' at passport control over the weekend.

Fishwick, who inspired the Netflix film Bank of Dave, shared the footage on his X account on Sunday (July 12), cautioning fellow travellers about the longest queues he's 'ever, ever seen. '. The Lancashire businessman, who was awarded an OBE this year in the King's Honours List after being nominated by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, encountered the 'unbelievable' queues upon returning from Mallorca at the weekend.

He said: "Absolute carnage at Manchester Airport today. Just arrived back from Mallorca and the queues are colossal. It's more than I've ever, ever seen before.

"I've been flying for decades, I fly all over the world for lots of different reasons, and it's definitely the longest queues I've ever, ever seen.

"So if you are going to land at Manchester from anywhere you're going in the world then please, please, please have a think about giving yourself plenty of time if someone's coming to pick you up or taxis are booked, because this is just unbelievable."

The airport has since addressed the footage, stating that the lengthy queues were the result of multiple delayed flights arriving simultaneously within a brief window of time. Around 1,500 passengers entered immigration at the same time owing to the delays, resulting in peak waiting times of around 25 minutes, according to the airport.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson told the M.E.N: "On rare occasions disruption to inbound flight schedules can cause immigration to become busier than usual. In these circumstances we deploy systems to help keep the flow of passengers moving, including implementing zig-zag style queues - which is what this video shows.

"At the time in question, several out-of-schedule arrivals in a short period of time resulted in around 1,500 passengers arriving into immigration at a similar time. Our teams were deployed to manage queues with the result that wait times peaked at around 25 minutes."

It comes after the Bank of Dave star was awarded an OBE in the King's Honours List - after being nominated by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Dave, from Burnley, has been honoured the OBE for services to finance, business and charity.

His own rags to riches story, and subsequent David and Goliath battle against the banking industry to set up his own bank, has inspired two global Netflix films as well as spin-off books and even a musical that premiered in Salford in May.