AIRLINE passengers at Manchester airport are continuing to flout tough security rules on the contents of hand-luggage.

Two tonnes of confiscated liquid is being dumped in skips at the airport every day.

Officials estimate that only one in two passengers is aware of the rules governing liquids and gels when they arrive at the terminal and delays are expected to continue this summer.

Spokesman Zoe Ensor said: "It's a huge problem. The last thing we want to do is take £40 worth of perfume off a passenger who has just bought it.

"Unfortunately, there is still a real risk to passengers - we are not doing this for the fun of it."

Last November, the hand-luggage ban was extended to soups, yoghurts and shaving foam.

But, nearly a year after new rules came in, thousands of passengers still turn up carrying everything from hair gel to toothpaste in bags they want to carry on board planes, which they must then surrender to security staff.

Britain's airports are confiscating more than five tons of liquids and gels every day. Manchester airport incinerates all such waste.