Desperate cabin crew staff are being driven to distraction at Manchester Airport by a "mass infestation" of mice running rampant in their duty room.
Some 500 members of Ryanair staff are believed to have been affected by the vermin outbreak inside the room where on-call cabin crew are expected to wait for long periods of their daily shifts.
One member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: "They're climbing up people's legs, running around our feet. One of them jumped on my colleague's shoulder yesterday while she was sleeping. They're jumping all over us. Basically, we're like a playground for them."
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He said the "mass infestation" began in September 2022, and that staff reported it to both Ryanair and the Manchester Airports Group at the time - however the airport say they were unaware of the issue until December, when a pest controller was called.
He said: "We've been sending requests every day to RyanAir as well as Manchester Airport about this, and no one seems to be getting back. It's starting to get a lot worse now.
"At the moment, we have seen five (mice), but when the room is silent you can hear them all running above us, scratching in the walls and the ceiling. It's got to the point where we're refusing to sit in the room, it's getting that bad."
He added that an exterminator was again sent out last week, but after putting down three traps he told them there was "nothing he could do" due to the rapid rate at which the mice were breeding.
The anonymous staff member said: "There's 500 cabin crew in Manchester, and we're all disgusted. We have people with fears of rodents. A girl had an anxiety attack, and it's just getting out of control. People are coming in feeling anxious.
"We have complained numerous times a day, not only me but other cabin crew members. One girl got a call from management saying it was sorted - and the next day she had a mouse jump on her."
He continued: "The cabin crew at Manchester are sick of not being heard and we want something to be done about this now, especially in a place where crew have to eat their food."
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “We are aware of a pest issue in a briefing area used by Ryanair. We are working with the airline and appointed pest control specialists to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Ryanair was approached for comment.
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