The organiser of Teesside Airshow says he is “absolutely gutted” that the event was marred by gridlocked traffic – and that his company will foot the bill for refunds.

Many ticket holders missed the event and others missed flights after traffic ground to a standstill on the roads around Teesside Airport last weekend.

Drivers were stuck for hours after thousands descended on the area to enjoy the return of the popular event, the first time it had been held in five years.

Organisers are now working with authorities and the airport to uncover what went wrong on the day, with results of a review expected early next week.

The Northern Echo:

After weathering a week of heavy criticism and speculation, the director of Skylive Air spoke to The Northern Echo and said everything was done that could have been done to plan for the event.

Chris Petty said the team had enlisted the support of traffic management experts and had created contingency plans for nearly 2,000 more cars than were expected on the day.

Read more: Results of traffic chaos around airshow expected in days

He said ideas such as park and ride and the use of facilities like football stadiums and the airport’s train station had been discussed during the planning process but would not have been suitable.

“There’s nowhere around here to take the amount of cars needed for a park and ride – we even had a suggestion of using the Riverside Stadium but had to consider the distance.

“We did look into everything and it’s gutting to see people think we didn’t know what we were doing.

“We do know, and we brought in experts to help us.”

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Prior to the event, organisers consulted with Hatton Traffic Management and representatives from authorities including Durham Constabulary, Stockton and Darlington councils and the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service.

Mr Petty said all authorities involved approved the plans, adding: “The amount of effort that went into making sure what happened on Saturday would not happen was immense.

“Everybody signed those plans off, it’s not as though we didn’t plan.

“We brought experts in to help us put these plans together – we didn’t just think ‘we’ll do an airshow’, there was thorough planning and a lot of time spent.

“Traffic management was just one part of that and we brought in experts for that just as we brought in experts to do the security and the catering.

“This was not a two-minute process - we thought the plan was fully sound and did not anticipate anything like what happened.

“We massively tried to avoid anything like it, we put in place clearway roads and we did not allow tickets to be sold on the day to keep the traffic flowing.”

Read more: Apology after airshow chaos

Mr Petty added: “It’s absolutely gutting for me, I’ve seen all the comments.”

He hopes the review will uncover the factors that contributed to problems around the air show.

He added: “The cost of refunding tickets will come down to us, refunds will come directly from us.

“But as the organisers of an event, we know that’s just what we have to do.

“Nothing happened with regard to an accident or anything like that, that insurance could have covered.”

Keeping him going in the face of criticism, he says, has been the knowledge that despite the traffic chaos, thousands of people who did make it were able to enjoy a safe and fun event.

“About 20,000 people had an amazing time,” he said.